Imagine I was Gone
by sadsmile33
Summary: Pretend that a certain girl can see you because you're her Imaginary Friend, imagine being jealous of that same girl just because she gets to experience everything that you can't, then pretend you fell in love with an espada that doesn't know you exist, and top it off with slowly disappearing to who-knows-where just because Orihime is forgetting that you existed, what would you do?
1. Chapter 1: Save me!

Chapter 1: Save Me

**Hey, first time here and first story up. Also, please review after reading and tell me how I did for my first time. I'm trying to 'think outside the box'…so my main character is neither Shinigami or hollow. I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me (Bleach) but I do own Yaka.**

"Orihime-san? Remember when we went to save Rukia in the Soul Society?" A pale teenager asked, her black tank-top, dark skinny jeans slightly hugging her curvy figure, and her black combat boots shone spotlessly as she crossed her legs. Her chest was nothing compared to Orihime's but was defiantly something compared to Rukia's.

Yaka's hair reached to the middle of her back and her bangs were split to the right, she floated on her stomach as she watched the orange headed female stood in front of the stove watching her newly invented soup. Orihime wore a plain pink shirt with dark gray sweat pants with her glittering blue hairpins stuck to the sides of her head as usual. Orihime turned around to face Yaka and smiled her brilliant smile.

"Yeah, I remember. Kurasaki-kun, Chad-kun, and Ishida-kun were all amazing." The orange headed beauty said with a gentle knock on her forehead with her knuckles and a shy smile. "Why, Yaka-san? Is something bothering you?"

Yaka lowered her light brown eyes to her arms that were crossed in front of her as she floated to the dinner table.

"It's just," Yaka's throat slightly tightened, maybe she shouldn't tell Orihime and plus even if she did it wouldn't matter, but something about the Soul Society kept bothering her. "It's just that, back there in the Soul Society, I felt…almost…real." Yaka glanced up at Orihime, half expecting her to say nothing and just dismiss it, instead, Orihime asked.

"Real? How?"

"Like," Yaka lifted her left hand to her face and slowly clenched and unclenched her fist. "I felt almost human, I felt like I was slowly getting a physical body. I remember I could almost feel the wind blowing."

Someone clapped and Yaka looked up at Orihime who had a big cheery smile.

"Oh! It could be your home place! Maybe that's where all the imaginary friends came from!" The orange headed princess said as she stirred her watermelon soup that sat boiling on the stove.

Yaka slightly smiled.

"I wonder what would happen if I was to stay over there for a week, maybe I'll be an actual soul or even better, a human." Yaka said flipping onto her back and staring at the ceiling, Yaka sighed dreamily. "I could get to taste food, smell the ocean, feel the wind, and so much more."

Orihime smiled as she turned off the stove and took a small bowl out from a cabinet, she then carefully poured some of the watermelon soup into the small bowl.

"You could even help me prepare dinner and eat some too, Yaka-san!" Orihime said as she grabbed a spoon, she placed it in her small bowl of soup and carefully made her way to the dinner table. Yaka laughed.

"Yeah, I would like that a lot." Yaka replied as she watched Orihime clap her hands and gave quick thanks before digging into her soup.

Yaka stood upright and walked towards the door,

"I'm going out for a bit." Yaka said glancing back at Orihime, Orihime smiled and nodded with a mouth full of the red lumpy soup.

Yaka gave a short half-hearted laugh before walking right through the door. The moment she stepped out into the gloomy night, Yaka felt a deep empty hole in her chest and her smile had left her face as quickly as it had came. She pretended to jump, instead of float, onto the old rusty rails of the apartment and jumped high into the night sky then down onto a rooftop far from the apartment. She jumped a bit further away from the apartment and settled in the park. She walked over to the swings and pretended to sit on it.

The night was quiet and calm, Yaka strained her ears for any sounds of crickets. Ten minutes pasts and she finally gave up, the night was too quiet and that was usually a bad thing. Yaka sighed and watched as the stars twinkled above her head. Yaka jerked her head up when she heard the cry of a ghastly creature, the cry echoed off into the night. A black portal appeared not ten feet away from where Yaka sat and a mutant bat-like creature slowly appeared head first. Yaka watched in amazement as the pale white mask glistened under the moonlight, the blood red eyes that glowed like jewels. The portal slowly shrunk as the hollow's long whip-like tail finally appeared and the signature hole appeared in its chest. Yaka continued to watch in amazement as it stretched out its wings and bent its muscle legs, however, a dark lean figure jumped down from the night sky and swung his abnormally large katana vertically as he landed softly on his feet. The hollow creature was cut cleanly and evaporated into small black and brown particles then nothing.

"Damn, why are there hollows everywhere tonight?" the lean figure with outstanding orange colored hair complained as a second shorter figure joined with the first. They both were wearing black kimonos and both had zanpakutos.

Yaka noticed that the two of the shinigamis were friends of Orihime. The orange haired was Ichigo Kurasaki, A.K.A Orihime's crush. It really wasn't hard to figure it out, especially since Yaka was Orihime's creation…no, Imaginary Friend…Ichigo never seems to stop surprising Yaka, to her it seems like everyone already knows that Orihime has fallen head over heels in love with the man and yet he has no clue about it. Just thinking about it frustrated Yaka. Yeah, Yaka agrees that Ichigo is a cool guy, an extremely strong man, and incredibly handsome, but Ichigo's so obsessed with trying to get stronger that he has no awareness of Orihime.

Yaka sighed, but then again, if Ichigo happened to like Orihime and they both went out…Orihime's attention will be one hundred percent on Ichigo and Yaka's chance of surviving will defiantly drop to zero.

The second was Rukia; Rukia was shorter than Orihime with short black hair and enormous purple eyes. Yaka remembered that Rukia was adopted into a wealthy family in the Soul Society. What was the clan's name?... Kuchiki? Something along the line, but Rukia was also someone that Orihime envied…which was new to Yaka because, Orihime had everything. Yaka was the one that was envious; she had nothing and soon no one.

Yaka glanced down at her hands and saw that she was starting to fade. Her feet was already gone, Yaka slightly frowned and floated off the swing.

"I'm already fading from existence." Yaka whispered.

There was a beeping noise that grabbed Yaka's attention, she looked up at Ichigo and Rukia.

"It's by the theater-" Before Rukia could finish her sentence Ichigo had already taken off shouting back to her,

"Got it!"

Yaka turned her head away and took off towards Orihime's apartment completely missing the fact that Rukia had glanced towards the swing set that Yaka had sat in before taking off after Ichigo.

Yaka made it in time with only her hands and feet missing. Yaka entered through the door and slowly felt her missing limbs returning. She made her way up to the roof through the ceiling and laid down watching the crescent moon and thousands of tiny stars. Yaka hated being alone but she also disliked being around Orihime, Orihime was beautiful, had friends that cared for her, and that could _see_ her.

Yaka turned to her side and tried to fill in the empty hole with happy times when she and Orihime were always playing pretend and weren't thinking about boyfriends. It was too late to ask Orihime to make another imaginary friend that could share this same feeling of loneliness. Orihime may still have childish wishes and a creative mind…but she's growing and stressing over things such as getting Ichigo's attention. To create an imaginary friend, you have to have a clear mind…a child's mind, where there's nothing to stress over about. Yaka can't make a friend, and the number one rule is: She's NOT real. But that doesn't stop the feeling of loneliness and fear of suddenly disappearing without anyone knowing, let alone caring. Even though Orihime doesn't know, Yaka could feel Orihime slowly forgetting about her.

Yaka curled up into a ball,

"Someone," Yaka whimpered as tears slowly filled her light brown eyes, "Save me…"

How did I do? Good? Bad? Outside the box? Inside the box? Uh? Please review and tell me how I did! Also, stick around and find out what happens! Pleasee?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: YOU CAN SEE ME?!

**Yo! XD so...like I feel kind of heart broken that no one left a note for me... ;-;...but anyways, I don't own Bleach or Tony Tony Chopper from One piece!...sadly...**

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"So, like, Sakura said she saw a monster with huge black wings and a white mask." Click , click, "Do you believe her?" Camie asked as she scooted the clothes one by one on the racks, Camie tucked her light brown hair behind her ear and sighed. "I mean, seriously! A monster?" She pulled out a lacy pink blouse out of the rack with a gleeful shine in her chestnut brown eyes. "This is cutee!" Camie adjusted her expensive Coach purse. Camie wore a light green tanktop with light blue jean shorts that were too short for any teenage girl to wear.

"Well, did the monster have a hole in its chest?" Yaka asked looking at the clothes that were hung near the dressing room not too far from where Camie is.

"Oh! And she said there was a hole in its stomach," a pause. "or something like that."

Yaka walked over to a dressing stall and examined the dress that hung on the front of the door.

The shop was filled with clothes and shoes. The air was sweet with perfume and the smell of new shoes, and judging by the constant _click click,_ there were probably ten to fifteen people in the shop.

It was about twelve in the afternoon and Orihime was probably at school, which was not too far from the mall.

"Yeah, that's a hollow." Yaka answered without looking at Camie, the pale teen tapped her lower lip with her index finger while staring at a strapless navy blue dress. "This one's actually kinda cute." Yaka whispered.

"Are you listening to me?" Camie called out turning towards Yaka's direction.

"Yeah, yeah, I can hear you. No need to shout, Camie." Yaka said with a small smile, she reached for the dress to try and feel the fabric.

"Mana!" Camie called out impatiently as Yaka's fingers passed through the sapphire colored dress…

"So what about it? Sakura always says stuff like that, it's obvious she's lying." A female teenager's voice replied back from within the stall that Yaka stood in front of. Yaka took a step back as the door to the stall opened and an eighteen year old walked out with a strapless high-low emerald dress. The older teen sighed and straightened her waist length blond hair, her perfect peach skin glistened along with her full glossy lips. "How do I look, Camie?" Mana asked slowly twirling.

Yaka forced a small smile.

"Eh," The dark haired teen replied shrugging.

"Whoa! Where did you find that?" Camie asked with starry eyes.

Before Mana could reply, Yaka quickly lost interest in the conversation and floated up towards the ceiling hoping to find something more interesting upstairs in the two-story mall. Yaka's head popped up from the ground and she found herself in a rough looking shop. Yaka floated up until her black combat boots touched the tile floor, she walked around the shop and noticed the repeated evil looking skull and zombies were printed on multiple shirts, wallets, hats, and backpacks.

"Why do you always go to these type of shops, onee-chan?" a high pitched voice asked from behind the imaginary teen.

"Because I can." Was the monotone reply.

Yaka looked over her shoulder towards the accessories and spotted the two female humans, the pale teen walked over to them suddenly interested in the shoppers. The younger girl's bright rainbow color clothing and her freckled face stood out from all the other color and clothing in the tiny depressing store.

"But it's kinda scary with so many dark colors and bloody zombie shirts." The freckled ten year old girl with two dark brown pig-tails pressed on while tugging her pink skirt. The second girl was about a year younger than Yaka, sixteen maybe, with dark eyeliners outlining her dark brown eyes and extreme dark purple lipstick. To top it off, she also had pale skin. Yaka noticed the teen's nails were painted black and wore mismatch striped stalking with heavy looking steel-toed shoes that were a little big on her. The depressing teen picked up a spiked bracelet and tried it on.

"So what?" was the same short tone reply. The dark teen slipped off the bracelet and picked up another bracelet with a flaming skull printed pattern.

"Don't you get nightmares?" The bright girl asked fidgeting nervously when she noticed a bald severed rubber head that stood on one of the tables nearby with a swollen black eye and three bloody gunshot wounds that appeared on the right side of its head staring her way.

"No." The sixteen year old held onto the bracelet and walked over to the clothing section, both Yaka and the little girl followed.

"Why do you like scary things, onee-chan?" the innocent girl asked as she glued her eyes to her red rubber boots trying her best not to look at the distracting head figure.

Yaka smiled. Oh, how she wanted a little sister!

"Because," The monotone girl moved the shirts from one side to the other as she looked through the designs. "Evil is hot."

Yaka blinked. Evil?..hot? how? The thought replayed itself inside Yaka's mind only to leave her confused.

"Hey," Yaka asked as she followed the two girls to the cash-register. "How's evil hot?"

The depressed pale teen paid for a t-shirt and the bracelet.

"Hey, answer me." Yaka slightly raised her voice. The freckled face girl thanked the cashier and followed her older sister towards the glass door that lead out of the shop. "Hey!" Yaka stepped in front of the two…

"So, can we get icecream next?" the little girl asked with a smile as she walked through Yaka. The older girl followed through.

"Whatever."

Yaka stood still.

She hated this.

She hated her own existence!

Yaka clenched her fist and tried to force the tears away.

She hated the mall yet she loved it, there're so many people around that it made her feel like she wasn't alone but at the same time it made her feel alone.

Damn Orihime for creating her.

Yaka rubbed her tears away with the back of her hand and floated away. She wanted somewhere to clear her mind, somewhere that would ease her loneliness. Yaka knew where. She made her way towards the small river bank and settled on the green grass near the sidewalk. A few joggers and couple came and went without a single "Hello!" or "Good morning!" not that Yaka really care…she doesn't even exist.

The sun was high in the sky and Yaka closed her eyes trying to concentrate on feeling the warm sun that she read and heard so much about. A few minutes passed and Yaka couldn't feel the sunlight licking her pale skin. Frustrated, Yaka opened her eyes and stared at the water below…

Yaka sat up, what was that standing near the water? Was it a dog? No, it can't be, it's standing on two legs.

"What the heck?" Yaka squinted her eyes and frowned, "A baby sheep?"

Yaka got up and slowly walked towards the small animal. When she got closer she noticed that the small animal stood, probably, up to her knees. She also noticed small curled horns on both side of its head, it reminded her of someone from an anime she watched…what was his name? That chibi blue nosed reindeer…Chopper! Tony Tony Chopper!

Yaka smiled proudly when she remembered the name. Yaka squatted behind the baby ram.

"Hey," Yaka whispered. "You alive?" She poked the chibi ram. It's white fluffy fur felt soft the moment Yaka's finger made contact.

Yaka tensed. She poked it, as in, actually poked it! Yaka's heart skipped a beat.

"O-oi!" Yaka shouted falling onto her butt. "h-how can I touch you?"

In any normal situation, she would've made a stupid joke about how wrong that sounded but in this circumstance…

There was a high pitch scream similar to Chopper's voice.

The chibi ram jumped a foot in the air moving both its arms and legs before landing nearer by the river and turned towards Yaka with its mouth opened. A few seconds flew by,

"Don't scare me, you baka!" the adorable chibi animal yelled with a tiny black hoof over where its heart should be.

"t-that's my line! How come I could poke you without going through?!" Yaka shouted back pointing an accusing finger at the creature.

"You don't poke people, you baka!-"

An uneasy silence settled between the two.

"EHH?!" both of them yelled in union. "YOU CAN SEE ME?!"

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**Please like my story! ^^ and also leave me a note!...a nice note...! **


	3. Chapter 3: I Made a New Friend

Chapter 3: I made a new friend

Hey everyone! :3 so like, I'm actually pretty happy! xD hahaha, I really hope that you guys like my story so far! Trust me! You might want to stick around a bit longer because it gets more interesting! Also, I don't own Bleach or Chopper!...sadly…

Sitting on the edge of the river were two figures with no shadow. The taller one, a human girl wearing a black tanktop with deathly pale skin and pitch black hair that was pulled into a poney-tail sat on the right side of the chibi ram with black tiny horns that curled around his white fluffy ears.

"So…" the pale teen whispered, this was actually her first time talking to someone other than herself and Orihime. "Why are you here and not with your 'kid'?"

Being an imaginary friend was bad enough, but being forgotten is worst.

"Are you lost?" Yaka, the pale teen, asked glancing sideways towards the chibi ram, who swung his (Yaka thinks is a boy) legs back and forth like a little child.

The imaginary ram shook his head and his eyes glistened as he watched the river gently rush by.

"Nah, I'm just walking around. I haven't been here for a while." The ram said quietly. Yaka, not knowing what else to say, nodded.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name, chibi." Yaka teased hoping it would lighten things up a bit. The chibi ram smiled then, with a tiny hoof, reached over to Yaka in a handshake gesture.

"I'm Sheep." He said with a smile all too similar to Chopper's.

Yaka laughed and shook Sheep's hoof.

"But you're a ram." Yaka giggled. Sheep's left ear twitched before he jumped up with small steam shooting out from his tiny ears and began to beat on Yaka's left arm.

"So, what?! It just so happen that my name's Sheep and not Ram!..." Sheep paused in the middle of hitting Yaka then tapped a hoof gently against his lower lip. "Although, Ram does sound pretty cool…"

Yaka innocently smiled. "Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! It was just a bit…ironic? I guess?"

Sheep pouted and sat back down, silence took its place between them.

The sun was slowly setting and the sky was a beautiful cheery pink. The calm river reflected the sky's beauty with the sound of gentle rushing of the water. Yaka slightly turned her head towards Sheep.

"You know staring is bad manners, right?" the ram's high pitch chibi voice said without looking at Yaka. Yaka yelped and blushed in embarrassment of being caught.

"Sorry, it's just," Yaka turned away so that Sheep wouldn't catch her eyes slowly tearing up. "I've never talked to anyone who could see me before."

"Same.." the reply was quiet but Yaka was able to catch it. Yaka's eyes widen and she turned towards Sheep.

"You…" Yaka's eyes blurred with tears. "You too?"

Now it was Sheep's turn to turn away, he got up with his back facing Yaka. Sheep lowered his head and wiped his tears away with the back of his hoof.

"I-I gotta go." He said with a sniff, "I'm starting to fade."

Yaka blinked away her tears and looked at Sheep's feet, indeed… he was starting to fade. She glanced at her feet; her time's running out too. She's already faded up to her knees.

"You better get going too," Sheep said looking over his small puffy shoulders. "You might not make it if you don't."

Yaka got up and nodded with tears returning.

"C-can I see you again, Chibi?" she asked with a small smile. Sheep's eyes widen, and then he floated off the ground facing her slowly.

"Baka!" He shouted trying to sound like he didn't care, "It's Sheep! Baka!" He repeated louder with tears threatening to fall before quickly turning and zooming off into the distance. Yaka smile and floated up too with tears tricking down her pale face, she waved as her only friend took off to his safety zone before she went the opposite way.

The sun was already gone by the time Yaka made it to the apartment. Yaka slipped through the door like a ghost and landed on the wooden floor, she walked over to the couch and plopped onto it. Yaka closed her eyes and, for the first time in a long time, Yaka relaxed. She felt…free almost. Yaka felt herself slowly fading back to reality. By the time Yaka heard footsteps coming down the hall from Orihime's room, Yaka had already recovered.

"Ahhh!" the orange haired princess yelped, Yaka opened one eye and laughed. "Oh! Yaka, when did you come back?" Orihime laughed nervously. "You scared me!"

Yaka floated in the air and slowly laid onto her stomach.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I got here about three minutes ago?" Yaka replied.

Orihime giggled and walked towards the kitchen.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you smiling so much, Yaka?" Orihime asked without looking at Yaka as she took out a baking pan. Yaka blinked. She was smiling? Yaka's smile widened and her eyes slightly glistened when she remembered Sheep. Yaka crossed her arms in front of her and rested her head on her arms.

"I made a new friend."

Sorry if there's any errors in my stories. I'm still kind of new to all of this! ^^"" Hahaha and sorry I'm taking so long to update! I honestly have a plot! Trust me! I hope it's gonna blow all ya's mind away! XD hahaha, so please stick around a bit longer! Oh! and...please review~ :~: I really really really need to know what everyone thinks about my story! Thanks and see you soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: She's My Only Friend

A/N: Okay, so I don't own One Piece or Bleach. But I do own Yaka and Sheep! ^^ I also wanted to apologize for not continuing the story for like ever. Please don't hate me! If you do, I hope that this chapter would make up for it! 0; Oh, Yeah! And Please tell me what you think at the end of the chapter! Enjoy! :3

Laughter bounces off the walls of the quiet clothing store. In the dress section of the store stood a teenager with raven black hair. Though she looked plain with just a black tank-top, skinny jeans, and combat boots, she used to be alone but today her laughter and smile proved she's not. In front of her laid a white fluffy animal, a baby ram to be exact. The chibi ram's high pitch laugh was the loudest out of the two. He rolled back and forth with tears ready to fall out of his closed eyes.

"Y-Yaka! Stop!" Sheep shouted gasping for air, "I-I can't breathe!"

The two imaginary friends slowly and painfully made their way to the sports section. Yaka glanced around the store and found an interesting model statue of a wrestler. Yaka grabbed Sheep's arm and floated towards the figure.

"Okay, last one!" Yaka laughed as she let go of Sheep's thin arm. Yaka floated towards the awkward looking model and prepared herself. Sheep was still too busy laughing about the previous model. Yaka floated to the back of the model and pressed her face against the back of the model's face just enough so that her face popped out from the other side to see Sheep standing up and taking a deep breath and calming himself. It took him a few seconds before he looked up at Yaka, his eyes widen then he flipped over onto his stomach and began to pound the floor repeatedly while laughing his Tony Tony Chopper laugh. Yaka forced a wrestling growl and yelled.

"I'm a wrestling pro!"

The adorable laughter that was too similar to Chopper was enough to make Yaka float forward laughing. Both imaginary friends clutched their stomach and laughed for a good three minutes before slowly stopping.

"Okay, what next?" Yaka asked as she landed on the ground next to the exhausted chibi ram.

"Hmmm," Sheep sat up and tapped his black hoof against his lower lip and his chocolate brown eyes searched the small store. "We could go watch a movie!" Sheep jumped onto his feet and floated up to Yaka's eye level.

"Okay, sure, I guess?" Yaka laughed, "But which movie?"

Sheep shrugged.

"We can figure that out later when we get there." Sheep simply said as he floated out of the store, Yaka followed him out of the store.

It was a nice evening, the sky was clear and the sun was bright. The Kurakara High School was just up ahead but then Sheep turned to his left and Yaka followed. Yaka's mind began to wonder off; it's been almost a whole month since Ichigo and the others came back from the Soul Society and three weeks since Yaka and Sheep met. Even though it's been three weeks, Yaka still didn't know much about Sheep. She picked up bits and pieces about his kid, for example, Sheep mentioned that his kid was grown up and is hanging around the wrong crowd. Yaka knew that Sheep still cares about his kid, but that's all an imaginary friend could do…right?

Sheep landed in front of a movie theater and hurried towards the movie posters that stood outside the building.

"What should we watch?!" Sheep's eyes glistened with amazement and excitement.

Yaka landed next to the chibi ram and blinked…

"Hey, Yaka!" Sheep shouted as he pointed to a poster of a pale man holding a woman dressed in a wavy red dress. "What does this say? What's the title?" Sheep asked with a big smile on his chibi face.

Yaka blinked then scratched the back of her head, she felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

"I-I, um," Yaka thought quickly. "I-it says, 'The Era'" Yaka nervously lied.

Sheep didn't seem to noticed and his eyes gleamed with admiration.

"You CAN read!" Sheep shouted happily, "Well, then let's watch that one! It seems interesting!"

Yaka gulped and forced a small smile.

"Y-Yeah, I can." Yaka whispered nervously as she followed Sheep into the movie theater. They hurried into a dark room set to start the movie.

"I can't wait!" Sheep whispered as he sat at the front row. Yaka raised an eyebrow.

"You've never been here before?" Yaka whispered back. Sheep fell silent as the movie started.

"I've been here once with my creator but that was a long time ago." Sheep whispered. Yaka felt the depressing aura and quickly changed the subject.

"I heard this movie is really cool," Yaka said with a smile. Sheep hushed Yaka,

Towards the middle of the movie, Sheep and Yaka felt their blood run cold. The screams that came from the huge screen echoed through the room. Sheep yelped and dashed towards the exit, Yaka quickly followed. They made their way to the top of the building pale and shaken from the horror movie.

They both fell backwards and stared at the clouds and blue sky. Silence filled the space between them.

"You can't read can you, Yaka?" Sheep asked in a serious voice. Yaka blushed.

"No…I can't...sorry." Yaka whispered in humiliation. Sheep sat up and looked at Yaka.

"Then why didn't you just say so?" Sheep asked.

Yaka frowned and sat up with her legs criss-crossed.

"Because I'm older than you and I should've known how to read…" Yaka whispered. Sheep didn't reply back so Yaka glanced at him.

"Older?" Sheep laughed, "No no no, I'm older than you!" Sheep said as he got up. Yaka frowned.

Without warning, a sudden wave of pain crashed against Yaka. Yaka dropped to her knees and clutched her chest. Suddenly Yaka felt an electrical shock course through her body. Yaka screamed and fell face forward, her breathing was quick and uneven. Sheep's tiny black hoofs landed next to Yaka's head as he stood by her side,

"Sheep…" Yaka whimpered as tears found its way to her eyes from the unbearable pain. "My whole body hurts." Yaka sobbed as Sheep gently pushed Yaka onto her back. Sheep's eyes were filled with tears,

"H-hold on, Yaka!" Sheep shouted as he placed both of his hoofs over her heart. Yaka's vision blurred and her body felt numb.

Yaka's eyes snapped opened as she quickly sat up and clutched her heart. Yaka gasped for air and was quickly thrown back as a fluffy white cotton ball attacked her with a hug,

"Yaka! I thought I wouldn't make it in time!" Sheep cried as he continued to hug her neck. "I thought you were going to die!" Yaka sat up again and groan,

"My head's killing me." She whispered before she patted the chibi's head. "Thanks, Sheep." She said with a smile. "B-but what was that? I saw a blue light!" Yaka said as Sheep pulled away.

"Yaka!" Sheep shouted wiping his tears away , "You have to find your kid! Hurry!"

Yaka frowned.

"Why?"

"Hurry!" Sheep shouted as he floated into the air, "I have to go too." And with that, Sheep turned and flew off. Yaka furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as Sheep's white figure shrunk in size by distance. Once he was gone, Yaka rubbed her head and slowly got up to her feet.

"Find Orihime." Yaka frowned, she walked over to the edge of the building and steadily lifted herself off the floor before heading towards Orihime's apartment.

Within minutes, Orihime's apartment was just up ahead. Yaka passed through the front door and was met with a dark empty room.

"Orihime?" Yaka shouted as she walked around the room, "Are you here?"

Yaka felt a sudden surge of pain through her chest and she clutched her chest.

"N-not again," Yaka whispered as she stepped backward. "Orihime! Where are you?!" Yaka shouted as she searched the house. Yaka panted as she flew out of the house,

"Where are you?" Yaka whispered weakly as she headed towards Kurakara High School. A tingling feeling from her right hand distracted Yaka; Yaka's blood ran cold as she slowly lifted her hand to her face.

Her hand's gone! The fading process was faster than normal.

Yaka flew towards the school and entered through the window, the entire classroom was empty, class had ended thirty minutes ago. Panicking, Yaka flew out the window and headed towards Kurasaki's house.

Please, Yaka prayed mentally, Please be there!

By the time Yaka made it to the Kurasaki's, her whole right arm had already faded. Yaka's heart raced as she flew through Ichigo's bedroom window…

EMPTY?!

She passed his floor to the first floor and found Ichigo's sisters talking. Yaka cursed and clutched her missing arm with her left hand.

"ORIHIME!" Yaka shouted,

"Where's Ichigo?" The little girl with light brown/blonde hair asked the darker hair sister.

"I don't know, he said he was going to stop by the candy store." The darker hair sister said with a monotone. Yaka blinked.

Candy store…Uruhara's!

Without a second to lose, Yaka flew off to Uruhara's Candy store.

Yaka felt the right side of her head slowly fade as she approached the small store. Yaka hurried in though the first window.

"Orihime!" Yaka yelled only to see a teenage boy with orange hair. Ichigo was bandaged up and was sitting up with his right hand over his eye. Yaka tried to ignore Ichigo and tried to go on but then she stopped when Ichigo slammed his fist against the floor.

"DAMN!" Ichigo shouted. Yaka yelped from surprise, she hesitantly passed through his room to the next room and found Orihime sleeping in the middle of the room with her head bandaged and cast arm.

Yaka's eyes widened.

What the heck happened?!

Yaka floated towards Orihime's sleeping form and examined her. Orihime was pretty banged up, is that why Ichigo was so mad? But who did this?

Yaka knelt next to Orihime,

"Baka…." Yaka whispered as she felt herself slowly heal. Yaka's eyes watered. "You almost died, didn't you?" Yaka's voice cracked. "In case you haven't noticed, Baka, I don't want to die." Yaka sobbed silently.

Before long it was already night time. A puffy white figure floated above the park not too far from the High school. The light posts around the park were the only lights. There were yellow police tapes that had surround and enclosed the area. The tiny figure from above frowned at the huge crater below, even though this crater was created hours ago, he could still feel the spirit energy. _They _came today, _they _almost killed Yaka and her kid.

His tiny horns poked through his soft white wool and slightly curled around his tiny white ears, his light chocolate eyes slowly scanned the area below him. He sighed and frowned when he realized his voice was abnormally high for a male ram. It sounded chibi-like.

It's getting harder and harder to travel between two worlds, he thought to himself. His feet had disappeared when he saved Yaka back on the roof of a building. Sheep slowly lowered himself onto the ground and walked towards the crater. He sat on the edge of the sixty-foot long crater and waited for his only way home, which possibly would never come.

As he waited he thought back to the sudden event of Yaka almost disappearing. An imaginary friend wouldn't live long without a living kid. Sheep's thoughts slowly focused on Yaka. How in the world was she even able to live this far in her imaginary life? Most imaginary friends would have disappeared when their kids turned 13 because in that point of life the human child would have enough friends to fill their life. There were three possible ways for Yaka to survive.

One: Her kid is very lonely or is misunderstood by many other humans

Two: Some other imaginary friend is giving their energy to Yaka in order for her to survive. (That's how Sheep was able to save Yaka from disappearing on the roof.)

Three: She's able to find a place in Kurakara Town to collect spirit energy in order to survive.

Sheep frowned at the third possible theory, there isn't enough energy for her in this town. The only ones that would enough spirit energy are Soul Society and H-.

A demonic screech pieced the air and was loud enough to snap Sheep from his deep thoughts. Sheep looked up and spotted a dark ghastly hole appearing at the other end of the crater. Sheep glanced at his condition and his tiny heart jumped when he noticed how close he was to completely disappearing. His whole lower half had already disappeared and he felt an icy grip seizing his heart. He got up and charged straight through the crater, the demon-like bear slowly appeared and roared. Sheep ignored the ear piercing noise and panted, he's only half way over the crater! Sheep's heart speed up as he reached for the portal. The ghastly portal slowly disappeared; Sheep pushed forward and closed his eyes.

Sheep continued to fly forward with his eyes closed. He slowly opened it and was met with enormous dark trees and the horrific hollow roars echoing throughout the dark endless forest. Sheep slightly smiled, he made it! He made it back home!

Sheep continued to fly forward until he saw a clearing up ahead. He slowed to a stop as he spotted two hollows tearing at each other. It was hard to tell what they were because of all the missing limbs, blood, and disoriented faces. However it wasn't long until they both died from loss of blood, Sheep floated towards the dead hollows and waited as both hollos slowly turned into ashy gray particles. Sheep closed his eyes and concentrated on collecting the energy that floated above him.

As he concentrated, he couldn't help but think back to his kid.

When his kid forgot about him, Sheep had faded quickly. The empty feeling inside Sheep when he found out that his kid had forgotten him because of Aizen… Sheep had to find another way to survive and make sure his kid is safe, but Sheep still couldn't do anything for his kid. Not that he needs to now, his kid is strong and proud!...But very lonely and confused.

Sheep finally collected enough energy to regain his lower half. Sheep shivered, he hated taking energy from hollows…then again Sheep is somewhat a hollow. Pretty much explains why he's white, but why a ram of all animals? Sheep would never know, his kid may be very manly now…but there's still a hint of a child inside him somewhere.

Sheep finally got out of the horrible forest and made his way to Los Noches. Sheep had spent long enough in this desert to know exactly where everything is, Sheep furrowed his eyebrows as Yaka popped up in his head.

That's the reason why he had to go and try to talk to his kid.

Finally, Sheep had arrived to Los Noches. Sheep slightly smiled, Los Noches was as quiet as ever. Sheep flew over the sand hollow that slept at the front gate, he made his way to his kid's bed chamber. Sheep mentally prayed that his kid would be there, Sheep entered through the wall and was met with an empty gloomy room. He glanced at the neatly made bed, his kid never really slept. The only way to get him to sleep was to knock him out. Sheep sadly smiled, his kid is growing so fast! Sheep glanced at the opened window and knew instantly where he is.

Sheep, once again, flew out and went to the top of the building. Sure enough, there he was. The lean muscular man was lying on his back with his hands behind his head, just watching the sky above. The hollow let out an annoyed, "Tsk!"

The man's hollow mask covered only the right side of his jaw with a vicious looking carnivorous jaw bone. Sheep landed on the roof a few feet away from his kid. Sheep smiled widely and ran towards his kid.

"Grimmjow!" Sheep shouted as he made his way to the blue haired hollow's side. "Remember Yaka? I told you about her a few days ago. She's so funny!" Sheep said rubbing the back of his head. "We went to the human mall and made some funny faces!" Sheep laughed sheepishly. "I wish you were there…but you'll probably just blow up stuff instead." Sheep forced a short laugh.

Sheep waited for a reply. After few minutes of silence, Sheep plopped himself next to Grimmjow and felt his eyes slightly sting with tears.

Back then when Grimmjow was able to see Sheep, Sheep would cry whenever Grimmjow insulted him or ignored him. Grimmjow HATED it whenever Sheep cried; he said it was a sign of weakness and that it was stupid.

"Grimmjow," Sheep whispered, "Please, don't let Aizen hurt Yaka or her kid."

Grimmjow gritted his teeth and forced his eyes to close.

"Damn Aizen and Ulquiorra

Sheep continued as his tears freely flowed down his chibi face.

"Please, Grimmjow!" Sheep's voice cracked, "I know you can't hear me anymore but if by some crazy miracle you can, please don't let Aizen kill Yaka! She's my only friend!"


	5. Chapter 5: My Kid, Grimmjow

**Chapter 5: My Kid, Grimmjow**

**Hey guys! Sorry for the very slow update… ;-; and also thanks for sticking with my story! I want to thank everyone who favored my story and followed! ^^ You have NO idea how happy that makes me! I want to thank:**

**3vilPurpl3d0t Buzooka Zooka**

**CerealNinjaCookie DragonKecks **

**LittleMissKaizoku Seriena4**

**TheAlleyCat18 Lightwithinthedark**

**sweetpatatopumpkin the below average**

**x-mariaa**

**I really appreciate it! ^^ Anyways, did you guys like my last chapter? Did you think it was way too predictable? Please let me know! Well, I don't own Bleach or One Piece…but I do own Yaka and Sheep! Sorry if this chapter is a bit too depressing.**

Chapter 5: My Kid, Grimmjow

"You sure you're okay? Should I come with you to school? What if something happens to you again?! What if you fell down the stairs?!" Yaka tried her hardest not to yank at her long black hair as she followed the orange hair beauty to the kitchen. Orihime was wearing her normal school uniform and had her right hand put into a cast.

Yaka sighed worriedly; it's been two days since the incident with the human-looking hollows, as Orihime put it, and two days since Yaka last saw Sheep.

Orihime laughed nervously,

"Come on, Yaka, you don't have to worry about me!" Orihime waved off Yaka's silly predictions as she pulled her lunch out from the refrigerator. "I know I'm clumsy but I'm not that clumsy, am I?"

"Orihime!" Yaka continued to argue, "You're all banged up and bandaged!" Yaka pointed at Orihime's cast arm and bandage head.

The orange headed teen slightly flinched at the comment then looked away from Yaka to the kitchen floor. Suddenly Yaka felt guilty…heck, Yaka didn't even say anything offensive…or at least she thought she didn't.

"I'm like this because I'm weak." Orihime whispered. "I just get in the way when it comes to fighting."

Yaka blinked, caught off guard…Orihime? Feeling weak? Psh! No way! Compared to Yaka, Orihime could do so much more!

"No, that's not true!" Yaka protested slightly floating into the air. "You're not weak!"

Orihime looked into Yaka's eyes and for a moment, Yaka caught a glimpse of sadness but that was quickly covered by Orihime's famous cherry smile.

"Hahaha, what am I thinking?" Orihime tried to laugh it off and, using her free hand, gently tapped her knuckles against her forehead. Yaka kept quiet, unsure of what to say to the teenage girl. Orihime glanced at her kitchen clock and yelped. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!" Orihime shouted and hurried to the front door where her shoes were.

Yaka hesitantly turned around unsure of what to do or say to the teen girl.

"Orihime…" Yaka began but then the orange beauty had already opened the front door.

"Bye and don't worry I'll be fine, Yaka!" Orihime shouted before shutting the door behind her. Yaka stayed where she floated and listened as Orihime's footsteps slowly faded away. Torn between following Orihime and waiting for Sheep's return, Yaka floated towards the front window and saw Tatsuki waiting for Orihime right outside the apartment gate. A pang of jealousy shot through Yaka's heart as she thought of Orihime and her friends from school.

Yaka shook her head and floated through the roof deciding to wait for Sheep…

The pale teen lay back against the grass and watched as the afternoon sun slowly became twilight. She nervously played with her pony-tail…third day, this was the third day that Sheep didn't come…Yaka suddenly felt alone once again and it scared her more than anything. There were so many questions that ran through her head that needed to be answered, but what if Sheep was…dead?

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up!" Yaka whispered loudly to herself and gently hit her head with her right fist; she sat up with her knees pressed against her chest as she felt hot tears slowly fill her eyes. Yaka squeezed her eyes shut and tried to concentrate on something happy…happy? Nothing in her damn imaginary life was ever happy!

Yaka opened her eyes and stood up as she came to a conclusion:

Sheep had abandoned her.

With an empty heart, Yaka made her way towards Uruhara's Candy Store. She landed at the front door and walked right through the sliding doors, she watched as a red haired boy and the young shy girl with black hair hurried back and forth cleaning and organizing the items on the shelves.

She walked through the middle section of the candies; she curiously looked around and spotted a chocolate candy bar that was flipped backwards on the far right of the shelf she was examining. She curiously walked over to have a closer look at the ingredients that were printed on the back.

"Jinta, Ururu~!" A slightly annoying voice sang as a middle aged man with blond hair and green striped hat came from behind the sliding door with the words 'Employees Only' printed on it. Pulling out a white fan out of nowhere, Kisuke flicked it opened and covered his mouth as he continued his sentence. "Guys, I have a favor to ask." He said in his sly voice.

Uninterested, Yaka continued to try and read the labels on the misplaced chocolate bar. She jumped when she heard the sliding doors slam shut; Yaka looked up to see where the noise came from.

She froze, her eyes slightly widened as she made eye contact with Kisuke. It felt like the whole world stopped. Jinta and Ururu were gone leaving Kisuke and Yaka alone in the front of the store. Yaka silently gulped suddenly feeling nervous. Kisuke still had the fan over his mouth but his goofy smiling eyes were now dead serious.

Yaka tried to move but she felt as though he knew she was there…

Without breaking eye contact, Kisuke walked towards her. With every step that got him closer to her, she felt her heart racing and pounding in her ears. He seemed to tower over her small stiff form…

Then he walked through her to the shelf that stood behind her,

"I wonder who put this chocolate backwards." He mumbled behind his fan as he picked up the chocolate with his free hand and turned it around before setting it down again. Yaka released the breath that she held, not that she needed to breath…and her muscles relaxed.

Still freaked out by the sudden eye contact, Yaka quickly made her way to the front door.

"Come again,"

The unexpected calm voice made Yaka's body turn to ice. She stiffly looked over her shoulder to see Kisuke not looking at her but calmly walking towards the 'Employees Only' door once more. The slow clanking of his wooden sandal sent shivers down her spine, without looking back, Yaka took off as fast as she could out of the place.

Orihime's voice bounced off the dark hall wall of her apartment as she hummed innocently. Yaka floated on her back as her hands eased behind her head, the hot steam in the small bathroom made it hard to concentrate on the pale ceiling above while Orihime took her bath.

"Did your friend come today, Yaka?" Orihime asked politely as she relaxed in the small tub.

Yaka felt the word 'friend' slice through her thoughts like a knife through butter. Seconds flew by until Yaka heard the water being disturbed.

"Yaka?" Orihime's voice was softer, "What happened?"

Yaka sat up and face Orihime to see her still in the tub but leaning forward towards Yaka with her right cast arm sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

The pale teen forced a smile,

"Nah, he probably has better things to do!" Yaka laughed it off.

It was ironic, both the imaginary friend and her creator were keeping secrets from one another…but why? Yaka felt her smile slip at the thought; she turned her head away from Orihime, slightly ashamed.

There was another moment of silence. Suddenly, Yaka heard the tub being unplugged and the water draining. She heard Orihime carefully getting out of the tub and making her way to her towel.

"You know what?" Orihime made her way to face Yaka with a pink towel wrapped around her body. "I don't have any homework or any studying. So maybe we can play house!" Orihime smiled childishly.

Yaka's heart skipped a beat. Pretend? Like a child again?

Yaka blushed but she couldn't help but smile at the sweet thought.

"B-but why? Aren't you a little too old to play pretend?" Yaka hesitantly challenged. Orihime laughed and turned to open the bathroom door, she made her way to her room with Yaka floating behind. As they entered Orihime's room, a pair of clothes neatly folded sat on her bed.

"No one's too old for anything!" Orihime countered as she began dressing herself. Yaka mentally celebrated. Pretend! The only world that Yaka truly knows! By the time Orihime had fully clothed, there was a knock that came from the living-room.

"Orihime~?"

Yaka's right eyebrow twitched… that voice…

Orihime blinked surprised,

"Hold on, I'll be right back." She whispered as she made her way to the front door in the living-room leaving Yaka in the small bedroom. Orihime finally reached the front door and unlocked it with her free hand,

"Finally!" A blonde haired shinigami shouted resting both her hands on her hips.

Orihime blinked surprised.

"Rangiku, why are you here?" Orihime questioned innocently.

"Can we crash here for a while? Ichigo was being mean and wouldn't let me stay with him. " The busty blonde slightly pouted.

"That's fine…" The moment those words left Orihime's lips, the blonde shinigami gave the younger woman a bone-crushing hug. Orihime wiggled in pain and yelped.

"I knew you wouldn't let us down! Thank you so much Orihime!" Rangiku shouted still hugging the poor wounded orange headed teen. "I need a dip in the bathtub! Today was so frantic that I'm sweating all over!" Rangiku shouted letting go of Orihime.

"The bath is over there." Orihime moved to the side of the door to let Rangiku enter.

Rangiku paused half-way through the front door and turned back to the dark night.

"Ah, hold on. You can come in if you want~!" She shouted in a slight teasing voice. Orihime blinked and leaned forward and strained her eyes. In the next apartment, on top of the roof, laid a small short figure with white spiked hair that seemed to glitter in the moonlight; Orihime slightly smiled, it was just Toshiro. "Hey, Orihime, do you want to take bath with me?"

The sudden question threw Orihime off.

"Sorry, I can't" Orihime paused, why couldn't she? Ah, yes! "I already took my bath." She paused again. No, that wasn't the main reason, something scratched at the back of her head but she couldn't clearly think of the reason.

Orihime found herself sitting outside of the bathroom in the dark with only the light embedding from under the door. A slight guilt tugged at her heart, she was forgetting something… Orihime pulled her knees to her chest with her cast right arm tucked under her chest.

"Is the bath water warm enough?" Orihime found herself asking. "Sorry if the tub is too small."

"It's fine! It's still nice." Rangiku's voice rang out from behind the closed door. There was a moment of silence. "So, tell me." Rangiku's voice was so serious that it surprised Orihime, Rangiku continued, "What's been bothering you?"

Orihime felt her heart jump up her throat.

"What do you mean, Rangiku?" Orihime tried to play it off with a cheery smile but her voice betrayed her. She was never one to lie.

"You know what I mean, what's been eating you?" Rangiku asked again in her serious voice. Orihime slightly frowned, was she that easy to read?

Orihime paused,

"…Rukia…she's really something else, right?" Orihime began, her heart was racing and her head slightly throbbed.

There was another pause; Orihime knew Rangiku was waiting for her to continue.

"...And well, back when Ichigo was feeling down she lifted his spirit in just one go…" Orihime felt her throat tighten and an uncomfortable feeling twisting inside her stomach. Orihime waited until the tightness in her throat ceased. "I…I'm useless, Ichigo can do really great things when he's okay. It's just what one can expect from him. When Rukia returned, she made Ichigo feel better." Orihime felt hot tears filling her eyes; she really is useless; all she does was cry and get everyone hurt! "It's a great thing but, it was something that I couldn't do. That's why I envy her. She's so kind, so strong, so pure…that chemistry with Ichigo. If only I could do something like that." She couldn't help but feel envious of Rukia but it was harder to face the fact that Ichigo might have feelings for Rukia.

Orihime couldn't stop the tears now. They blurred her vision and fell like raindrops as they fell from her eyes, she felt like curling up and never getting up.

"I never felt this way at school…but when I'm alone at home, it really gets hard to work through these things." Orihime continued with a whimper, something felt like a tug at the back of her mind. Alone? Was she really alone at home?

Just around the corner leading to the living-room, stood a pale teen who heard the whole confession. Why is it that Orihime trusted someone she met not even five months ago but not her childhood friend?

Yaka's head was held low allowing her bangs to slightly fall over the right side of her face, she knew why… It was because, Orihime knew Yaka wouldn't understand how it was to live a real life.

The feeling of being alone and forgotten had grown.

Yaka didn't know what else to feel, she floated up through the ceiling and out of the small apartment. All she knew was she didn't belong there. Not anymore.

Yaka floated higher into the twilight sky and decided to watch the city from above. If she could, she would prefer locking herself up in a dark room and watch anime until she stopped breathing but, that was impossible if you were an imaginary friend.

Yaka sighed and tried to keep her mind from thinking about the conversation that Orihime and Rangiku had just minutes ago, but it was hard not to think…first her one and only friend abandons her…then Orihime forgets that she existed…

Yaka lowered herself down onto of a hospital roof and sat on the edge of the building with her knees pulled to her chest. Yaka closed her eyes, maybe it would be best to just disappear.

Suddenly, an eerie zipping-like noise pierced the air like an invisible blade. Yaka jerked her head back and glanced around the roof.

Just barely twenty feet above her, Yaka noticed that there was a black opening in the sky. Her eyes widened as someone stepped through. The man was tall and well-built, he wore a white hakama with a black sash and ragged white jacket with an upturned collar. Curious to see if the man was a lost spirit or an oddly dress shinigami, Yaka floated up close enough to see that his eyes were an intense light blue with green lines below them. He wore his jacket with the sleeves rolled up and left his toned chest exposed. Yaka isn't the type to gap but what she saw next made her blood run cold. A vicious looking carnivorous jawbone with intense sharp teeth was plastered onto his right cheek. Yaka gulped. Was he the one that attacked Orihime? Is there more of him?

Yaka felt her stomach flip when she saw that his had an enormous hole. She knew that if he wasn't so frightening looking, she wouldn't have hesitated to put her arm through his stomach…but imaginary or not…he was too scary to be hanging around with.

Yaka was about to turn around and head back to Orihime to warn her when something else caught her attention.

Barely reaching the hollow-man's knee stood a puffy white cotton ball with black horns curling around its ears and big chocolate brown chibi eyes.

Yaka felt her world start to spin. What the heck is going on?!

There, standing behind the hollow-man with the psychotic grin, stood Sheep with his head slightly lowered.

"Sheep?" Yaka's voice was barely audible; she felt her eyes glisten with tears. Louder, she called out his name. "Sheep,"

The chibi lam jerked his head up and quickly glanced around, his eyes landed on Yaka.

"Yaka?" Then his eyes glanced at the hollow in front of him, Sheep seemed to straighten up and stood slightly proudly. "T-This is my kid, Grimmjow."

**Finally Grimmy came in! I'm sorry for the long wait! But I didn't want to rush him coming in….Anyways, please review and let me know what you think of this chapter!..hmmm, I wonder how the next chapter's going to be like. How is Yaka going to react? What is Sheep going to do now that Grimmy's in the human world?! What about Orihime?! Ichigo?! OH NO!...dramatic enough for you? XD…yeah, didn't think so…**


	6. Chapter 6: Just Imaginary Friends

Okay, again, I don't own Bleach just Sheep and Yaka. :3…I'm glad that you guys like my story so far! Please review after reading! I really would like to know what you guys think! I'm sorry that I keep repeating the same words over and over *cough* FadeMeAway *cough* hahahaha, just kidding! Anyways, sorry about the confusion (if there's any) I'm using the xxxx thing to divid parts of my story because everytime I push enter to try and seperate the story paragraphs it doesn't show up when i upload my story... :P

Chapter 6: Just Imaginary Friends

Three dark figures stood in the starry night; a distant honking was heard from the town under them and the yellow glare of the streetlights dotted along the sidewalks below. The taller of the dark figures let out a low growl and lowered himself down onto the building that stood below them. His ghostly blue hair glistened and reflected the moonlight as the other two figures stood facing each other in an uncomfortable silence.

"S-so, this is your 'kid', huh?" Yaka stiffly gesture towards the blue haired hollow, to be honest she didn't know what else to say. She remembered Orihime saying 'don't judge a book by its cover', but something about Sheep's kid…Grimmjow, scared her more than anything. It could be his venomous glares or the fact that he's a hollow…or both.

"Yeah…" came the small reply from the tiny white ram. They both glanced down at the lean yet muscular bluenette below them.

"They're late." Grimmjow growled through clenched teeth, he sat at the edge of the building with his left leg bent. He rested his left arm on his bent knee and let his other leg dangle on the edge of the ten story building.

Yaka glanced between the innocent looking ram and the vicious hollow. Was it even possible for such a terrifying hollow to have a cute imaginary friend?

Without making eye contact with Yaka, the black horned ram lowered himself down to the building and landed next to the bluenette. She followed hesitantly but landed a good few feet away from the two.

"Yaka," Sheep walked over to the deathly pale teen and stood in front of her, suddenly her fist connected with the top of Sheep's head. Sheep's head jerked downward from the punch and for a moment it was like an anime scene. A big round pink bump formed between his horns and Sheep's eyes filled with tears.

"Ooooowww! You baka!" Sheep shouted rubbing the round bump that formed right between his black horns.

Yaka felt her eyes watered as a sudden sadness and anger filled her chest,

"You left me alone for a whole two days!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "I thought you faded away! I guess you just didn't want to be near me…" Her voice fell to a whisper, "Why did you leave me alone?"

Sheep stopped rubbing his head and frowned, he shook his head.

"Now's not the time, Yaka, there's something more important you have to do."

Yaka felt a spike of annoyance, boys…no matter what species they are, they will NEVER understand a woman's feeling!

Before she could yell back, Sheep pushed her legs, an effort to try and move her towards the edge of the building.

"You have to go to your kid now! You have to warn your kid and her friends! Hurry up, damn it!" Sheep's high pitched voice rang through the air.

Yaka was shocked; Sheep cursed…well, if 'damn' was considered a cuss word.

"Yaka! Are you listening?!" Sheep was panicking. The pale teen stood unmoved by the little creature, "You have to warn your kid that Grimmjow's coming!" Sheep grunted and continued to push against her legs. "Why. Are. You. So…Heavy?!" Sheep shouted breathless and leaned against her legs to catch his breath.

At that, Yaka floated off the rooftop causing Sheep to fall flat on his back with a small 'thud'.

"I'm NOT heavy!" She shouted blushing in embarrassment before turning. "You're just smaller-"

"Finally." Grimmjow growled annoyed.

Yaka froze. She gulped nervously at the sight before her.

"What are you waiting for, Yaka!?" Sheep shouted, "Stop staring at the Fraccion and go!"

The chibi's frantic yells finally broke through her swirling thoughts. The group of five human-hollows stood before Grimmjow like servants to a king. The leader of the small group has a long face and black hair, which is braided and hanging over his shoulder. His mask sat on top of his head with a potion dropping down to cover the upper-left half of his face and a long spike that points to his right.

"They're here to kill Ichigo and the others…" Yaka pieced together and without another word she charged forward as fast as she could. She felt so stupid and slow! Of course they're here to kill Orihime and her friends! That's what hollows do, it's not like they came over for a slumber party!

Panic raced through her veins and only one thing was clear in her mind: she had to get to Orihime first before the hollows do.

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Orihime took a scoop of ice cream from the container and happily plopped it into her mouth.

"Orihime!" A busty blonde woman yelled with a mouthful of ice cream, "These taste so good!"

The two ladies sat in the living room with a small ice cream bucket in their lap; they giggled and scooped a spoonful of ice cream before placing it in their mouths,

"I know right?!" Orihime exclaimed pulling her spoon out of her mouth, she got up with her empty container and her spoon and headed towards the kitchen.

"Orihime!"

The orange hair woman let out a surprised yelp before placing her hand over her heart as a pale white teen dropped through the roof of the apartment soundlessly. She landed next to Orihime,

"Y-Yaka!" Orihime whispered glancing at Rangiku, whose back was facing her, "I forgot you were here." Orihime paused…forgot…she completely forgot that Yaka was still here.

"I left a long time ago, but that doesn't matter right now." The dark hair teen shook her head, "Listen, tell Ichigo to get his family and the rest of the crew out of Kurukara!"

"W-what are you talking about?" Orihime furrowed her eyebrows in worry, suddenly, she felt it. The sudden downward pull of spiritual pressure; they both glanced at the blonde haired shinigamis just as she changed into a soul reaper. The black and white clad soul looked over her shoulder at Orihime,

"Orihime, stay here." And with that, the female shinigamis left through the opened window to meet up with her captain.

Orihime felt her heart skip a beat and her body abruptly broke into a cold sweat when one thing was clear, "Ichigo's in trouble."

She looked at Yaka as if begging the imaginary friend to find a solution to all her problems.

"I-I can watch over him but that's it." Yaka offered the best comfort she could. "I can't guarantee his safety, Orihime-san."

Orihime nodded hesitantly and with that Yaka slowly lifted back up into the ceiling.

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On her way to Ichigo's house, the night felt so long yet everything that's happening right now is like a blur!

Why are they here? Are they trying to finish Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad off? But why?

There were so many questions that needed to be answered-

"Yaka!" the unexpected voice shattered the female's train of thought.

"Sheep," She stopped and waited for the smaller imaginary friend to catch up. "You need to answer some questions, right now!" She demanded.

Sheep seemed to gulp at the word 'answer'.

"Is Grimmjow here to kill Orihime?!" Yaka didn't mean to shout at the tiny ram but she needed to know. The hollow ram lowered his eyes,

"H-He's going to kill anyone with spirit energy." The answer was whispered but she was able to catch it. "Yaka, listen," Slightly louder, the chibi looked up and into the teen's eyes, "I'm sorry I couldn't meet up with you the past two days. It's been difficult, I've been trying to find a way to stop Grimmjow and Aizen!" the baby ram's eyes glistened with tears, "I tried...so hard… I tried to gather as much spirit energy as I could to try and take on a physical soul form but then I needed Grimmjow to know that I still exist in order to be complete-"

"Hollows are horrible…" Yaka couldn't help but feel and sound disgusted. Hollows were horrible, they eat even though they probably never felt hunger…they kill just for fun.

She remembered the first time Orihime had discovered her powers. The squid-like demon they faced was cruel and showed no mercy to any of Orihime's friends, Orihime even begged the hollow to stop but ended up getting hurt...

"You're probably enjoying this, aren't you?" She accused as something filled her gut…anger?

No. It was fear. Fear of losing what little life she had left in this world before Orihime finally forgets about her. She was being selfish; she didn't want to take the blame anymore.

"You're enjoying this and probably don't even care what happens! You…" She seemed to choke on her words as if knowing she was going to regret them, "You're a **monster**!" She spat out at Sheep before turning and flying off towards Ichigo's house…leaving her heartbroken friend.

Yaka wiped away the tears that escaped her eyes, she needed to find Ichigo and make sure he doesn't get badly hurt then again…what the hell could she do?! Suddenly a loud explosion startled her; it shouldn't be hard to find them now that there were rows of destroyed buildings and streets up ahead. She headed towards the large mountains of dust.

Yaka shook her head and continued to search the ruined town below her, something shifted at the corner of her left eye causing her to stop. She turned her head and slowly scanned the street below her to her left, and sure enough, she saw her. Tatsuke.

The athletic woman was scurrying around the street near the wall of some neighborhood as if spying on someone. Yaka frowned, but who? A guy, maybe? She continued to watch the black haired tomboy with mild interest until she noticed that Tatsuke would glance up at the sky towards Yaka's direction for a few minutes before moving down the road hesitantly-

Suddenly, Yaka felt a ripple rushed through her and a black and white blur passed through her body. It slammed against the street below and created an enormous cloud of dust. Her pale body froze with fear; she stiffly looked over her shoulder with wide frightened eyes.

"This thing's a Bankai…?" She felt her blood run cold as she made out a familiar tall figure, cold sweat began to form on her forehead. "You disappoint me, Shinigami!" Grimmjow shouted with disgust.

Yaka yelped from the sudden loud shout and quickly flew down towards Tatsuke's hiding spot.

Yaka was facing the alley wall with her hands over her eyes; she shivered from the thought of Grimmjow until she heard a soft whisper from the human girl.

"Ichigo,"

Yaka shakily lifted her hands from her face and glanced at Tatsuke. The lean tomboy furrowed her eyebrows with worry as she watched intensely waiting for the clouds of dust to settle down.

"Getsuga…" Ichigo's voice reached Yaka's ears causing her to look towards the direction of the voice. "Tenshou!" His voice rang through the air; the disturbing cloud finally disappeared as a black electricity-like wave shot out from it.

Ichigo's neon orange hair seemed to glow from where he was standing. Yaka looked up towards the bluenette and noticed that he didn't even try to pull out his sword to deflect the attack, instead his shocking blue eyes widened with surprise and he quickly shielded himself with his arms. It was a direct hit!

"Yaka," The sudden voice beside her ear caused her to scream. She quickly turned around with slight anger in her eyes.

"W-what the heck, Sheep?!" She yelled at the smaller imaginary friend that floated behind her. She felt anger slowly consuming her as she looked at Sheep, who was floating eye leveled in front of her.

"Yaka, please, help me reach Grimmjow!" He begged putting his tiny hoofs together in a pleading way. "He needs help! If you can get him, you could possibly save your kid and her friends too!"

Yaka frowned and glanced behind her towards the battle,

"Ichigo seems like the one that needs help, not Grimmjow." She mumbled as she turned back to Sheep, he shook his head.

"No, that's not what I meant. Just please, will you help Grimmjow?" He begged with a voice full of emotion. "Tousen-san is here and he's coming for Grimmjow! Please?!" Tears were flooding his eyes now, his lower lip quivered. Yaka felt her heart sank with guilt but her anger towards him and Grimmjow did not cease.

"No, I won't help." The words that came out of her mouth were laced with anger and she watched as Sheep slowly planted his feet to the ground and knelt on his knees, he pressed his white furry forehead against the ground in front of her feet.

"Please! I'm begging you! Save Grimmjow!"

Yaka stood shocked at the small animal in front of her.

"Sheathe your sword, Grimmjow."

Yaka looked up over her shoulder towards the new voice that had entered the scene. It came from a muscular tall African American man. He stood behind the shocked bluenette hollow; the African American man's dark blackish purple hair that brushed past his shoulder blades with a gray glasses-like band covering his eyes.

"Please, Yaka." Sheep's soft voice made her turn her attention towards him; his small form was still knelt in front of her slightly shaking. "Please, he needs someone that would help him."

Yaka knew he was crying, his sniffling and whimpers were enough evidence. She felt so torn…

"You should know," Yaka heard the African American man, Tousen, explain to Grimmjow "Aizen-sama is furious, Grimmjow."

"No," She refused to make eye contact with Sheep as he looked up at her with huge shocked watery eyes, "I won't help you." She finished, she felt guilt flood in her like a tsunami but for some reason…the words she said sounded mean and hateful.

She could hear it. His tears. Falling from his brown eyes and hitting the floor as they stared up at her with fading hope.

What **can** she do? She didn't want to set an expectation that she couldn't possibly reach. If anyone hasn't noticed by now…

They're just imaginary friends who simply don't exist in the real world…

A/N: Sorry, sweetpotatopumkin, I was trying to find a way to make Yaka faint buuutt I couldn't do it in this chapter….I promise I'll try to fit it in in the next chapter! Okay, so before I forget, does anyone want an Orihime x Ulquiorra mix in this? I will promise that it won't get all lovey-dovey! I meant to ask you guys this earlier but then I completely forgot. Well, if you guys want the mix then please PM me or review! Again, please review and tell me if you guys liked this chapter…so…now that I think about it, my story's kind of depressing.. XD hahahaha, oh well? I'll try to make a happier chapter later in the future!


	7. Chapter 7: It's Time

Chapter 7: It's Time

Okay, sorry again for taking so long. I really wanted to update once a week but then it turned out harder than I thought it would be! Also, my flash drive (for some reason) hates 'Imagine I was Gone'…it didn't save the chapter correctly and then said that there was an error and blah blah blah…uhg! Anyways, I'm trying to update at least once a month… I know I know! It's long but just bare with me! Also thank you, everyone, for sticking around and reading my story and look forward for the next chapter! :3

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Yaka leaned back against the green grassy ground and closed her eyes. The distant memories seemed to flood back into her mind; Sheep's tears. Tousen escorting Grimmjow back to Hueco Mundo with the small white and black animal trailing behind, and then after all that trouble, Ichigo decides to disappear! However, with Orihime's Ichigo Kurasaki radar (okay, maybe not literally a radar), she was able to find his little hiding spot with his newly formed 'hollowfied' friends. But that's been…what seems like forever ago.

She groaned with frustration and turned to her left side with her eyes now opened. Four months had passed since Sheep had left. The guilt that tugged at her gut weighed heavily as she thought back to Sheep's eyes.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to try and help Sheep; sure, call her a coward, it's not like she was a main character with abnormally strong abilities who could save the whole world! No…this isn't like an anime. Everyone, alive or imaginary, has fears.

She turned onto her back and stared at the blue cloudy sky. Loud crashes and shouts were heard around the small forest area;

Yaka sighed and concentrated on trying to feel the wind, or maybe the sun.

She, Orihime, Rukia, and Captain of squad 13, Captain Ukitake were at the training grounds of Soul Society. Rukia and Orihime were supposedly training but Yaka knew that Rukia was holding back on the innocent orange haired girl, they were friends after all.

Everything seemed like an illusion new, Yaka opened her eyes and glanced towards the white haired Captain, and then her blood ran cold. The squad Captain was staring right at the young teen, she felt everything rushing towards her; the wind, the heat of the sun, and even the smell of the grass. It was fait like a fuzzy blurred dream.

"Is someone there? Please come out." Captain Ukitake softly asked as if talking to a frightened rabbit.

His eyes never left hers,

He can't see her? But he's looking RIGHT at her!

Yaka suddenly felt uncomfortable until a man with black spiky hair and a "69" tattoo on the left side of his face along with a distinctive scar that ran down the opposite side of his sharp face structure came and stood beside the sitting Captain. Using this distraction, Yaka got up and tried to fly off further into the forest. She jumped…then fell back onto her feet. She couldn't fly, Yaka panicked. She could NOT fly! Again, she tried to take off; she jumped again and felt herself pause in midair for half a second before falling back onto her feet. Her imaginary heart pounded against her chest and she glanced over at the Squad Captain, his calm collective eyes were slowly scanning the area where Yaka stood. He knew she was there but for some reason he couldn't see her. Like a scared mouse, Yaka turned on her heels and ran into the trees.

"Captain Ukitake?" The 69 tattooed man tried to get the white-haired man's attention; when the older man didn't respond, the younger soul looked towards the direction the Captain was staring and found nothing out of the ordinary.

Yaka hid behind a nearby tree and slowly poked her head out to observe the Captain and the Lieutenant. She shivered when she realized that this was the second time that someone had sensed her. Capaint Ukitake and the black haired man were not busy quietly chatting and watching the two girls, Orihime and Rukia, train below. Minutes had passed when the Lieutenant finally left.

The imaginary teen watched nervously as two black butterflies made their way to Rukia and the Captain. The whole area seemed to stand still as the two listened to the butterflies, once the message was received, Rukia and Orihime made their way up to the Captain who was now standing. Yaka watched as they exchanged words and nodded their heads in agreement, Rukia left in a hurry which only increased the imaginary girl's curiosity. She took a deep breath and gathered all her courage before taking a step out from behind the tree; she took a quick look at Orihime and the Captain before hurrying after them on foot.

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"What happened, Orihime-san?" Yaka asked as she trailed behind the orange-haired girl.

They were following Captain Ukitake back into the Seirate and so far, Yaka knew they were making their way towards the 'bridge between worlds', as she would like to call it. To be honest, she forgot what they called the giant gate that connected the Human world and the Soul Society. Yaka frowned from her forgetfulness.

"Ichigo and the others are in trouble." Orihime whispered with worry in her big brown eyes. There was an awkward silence that filled the space between them. "Yaka, how come you're not floating?"

The sudden question had surprised the young black haired teen.

"I-I" She didn't know what to say, she bit her lip and glanced at Orihime who continued to walk but stayed patiently quiet for the answer. "I can't." Yaka shamefully admitted.

"What do you mean you can't?" They finally reached the gate with Captain Ukitake but then Orihime had stopped in her tracks to turn towards Yaka.

"I don't know." Yaka answered truthfully. "I just can't for some reason, there's been so many weird things that's been happening-"

"Inoue-sama! Inoue Orihime-sama!" Hearing her name being called, Orihime turned her attention away from her imaginary friend to the men in white clothings who were in charge of opening the gate and providing a safe journey to the other side. The group of men quickly made their way towards the gate, "We have completed securing the walls of the waste dimension! Please pass through!"

"Orihime," Captain Ukitake called out as Orihime and Yaka walked towards the gate. "Be careful."

Orihime turned to the Captain and nodded with a cheerful smile as she stood in front of the portal.

"I'll tell you about it late." Yaka whispered as the Captain smiled back at the young girl. Orihime gave another nod before she ran through the gate.

"Thank you very much! I'll be back!" Orihime shouted over her shoulder before shifting her eyes to Yaka who jobbed behind her. "Can you run, Yaka?" Orihime asked as she began to work her athlete legs. Yaka frowned at the question but nodded as she quickened her pace to meet up with Orihime; the black haired girl trailed behind Orihime when two black blurs passed her and began running beside the orange hair beauty.

"Let us accompany you," One of the shinigamis bodyguards said with a smile. The shinigamis had a round face and wore the traditional black and white clothing and his dark colored hair was pulled back into a tight high pony tail.

Orihime's eyes widened with surprise.

"Huh? That's okay really!" She tried to wave both shinigamis off.

"You're not an intruder anymore! You're a guest!" The second soul reaper butted in. He was skinnier than the first Soul Reaper.

Yaka felt an anime sweat drop form…Orihime's some kind of man magnet, next think you know, she'll have one of the most powerful bad guys falling in love with her.

The thought of a high ranking hollow like Grimmjow falling madly in love for Orihime caused a laugh to escape Yaka's lips. Hollow can't fall in love!...right? For some reason, the question continued to repeat in Yaka's head. Hollows? Falling in love? No way! It's pretty much the same as an Imaginary Friend becoming real-!

"What's this? Only 2 escorts?"

The sudden emotionless voice echoing through the gloomy pathway caused Yaka to trip over air and tumble forward, she let out a small painful yelp as she felt her forehead smack the ground which caused her to quickly sit up with her back towards Orihime and the two Soul Reapers, an attempt to hid her embarrassment. Yaka covered her aching forehead and bit back the tears that threatened to escape her eyes as she looked around the area in front of her.

"Yaka," Orihime stopped and looked over her shoulder at her clumsy Imaginary Friend.

Yaka rubbed her red forehead but then stiffened when she felt the air suddenly turn icy cold as a familiar looking portal ripped open in front of her.

"I see, even Soul Society is surprisingly inept." If their lives weren't on the line, Yaka would've asked what the word 'inept' meant…but one, no one but Orihime would've heard her, and two, this wasn't a cartoon where words were defined by enemies. "It seems they're unaware of the fact that you're at your most vulnerable when you're traveling." The portal slowly opened to reveal a man with emerald green eyes and tear streaks that marked underneath his eyes.

Yaka held her breath. His skin was paler than hers, suddenly his bat-like eyes snapped towards her direction. She felt her hands tremble as he continued to stare at her.

"I sense a fourth soul." His monotone voice was deep and would've been considered calm if his death glare wasn't so frightening. He slowly scanned the area but then his eyes landed back on Yaka. Could he not see her either? "Interesting." He stated plainly.

"Orihime-san." Yaka whimpered as she inched towards the wide-eyed girl. "Run."

"Having those annoying walls fixed in place suits me just fine, since rushing a conversation isn't really in my nature." The thin pale man wore a skull that covered half his head but showed his entire face. A long thin horn gracefully curved upward and his uniform was similar to Grimmjow's except the man kept his white jacket button all the way up and his sleeves weren't rolled up. His sword was placed on his left hip and both hands were in his pocket as he stepped out of the hollow portal.

"Orihime." Yaka begged as she tried to get up.

"Who the hell are you?" The chubbier Soul Reaper shouted trying to sound intimidating as he pulled out his sword. "Are you an Arrancar?!"

At this, the hollow-man slowly pulled his left hand out of his pocket. Yaka shakily stood on her feet and backed away from the terrifying white demon. Arrancar or not, a voice at the back of Yaka's head told her that this man was ten times more dangerous than Grimmjow and there was no one to save them.

"Wait!" Orihime shouted, her eyes wide with realization that this pale person was dangerous. "You have something to say, right?!"

Yaka unsteadily stood beside Orihime,

"Orihime, just run." Yaka begged as she tried to grab Orihime's sweater, her hand went straight through the orange-haired princess's sweater. "Please, Orihime!"

Without hesitation, the monotone man pointed his index finger at the first Soul Reaper. A disgusting splat echoed through the dark gloomy path, Yaka froze in her spot as her eyes wondered to the fallen Soul Reaper. His whole left shoulder and arm were gone! His body jerked backwards from the unseen force that the hollow shot out from his fingertip. The Soul Reaper fell onto his back and his sword clattered noisily next to him. Blood began to rapidly pool around him.

"That's right, woman. I have something to say to you." His deep emotionless voice sent shivers down Yaka's spine. This was NOT good, Orihime's in trouble!

Alarmed by the sudden injured man, Orihime reacted.

"Souten Kishun!" Two fairy-like sparks shot out form Orihime's hairpin and formed an oval shield over the dying Soul Reaper. Yaka stiffly looked at the mysterious cruel man as he watched with no emotion displayed on his flawless pale face.

"Run!" Orihime shouted to the second Soul Reaper. "Please! Run!"

"B-but," He was shaking uncontrollably but his pride held him in place.

"I'll be fine, get out of here!" Orihime shouted, "Please!"

Yaka saw the pale man move his left hand again.

"Orihime!" Yaka warned but was too late.

The second Soul Reaper fell backward with blood splattering everywhere. A huge hole, just like the first Soul Reaper, appeared on the left side of the second Soul Reaper's side. Orihime gritted her teeth and forced her recovering shield to widen in order to reach the second soul.

"Ayame!" Orihime's voice was almost pleading. Yaka's knees felt like rubber as her whole body shook; there was no way out of here. They were going to die here…

She watched helplessly as Orihime stood on her own.

"You can heal them even if they're that badly injured?" The cruel emotionless man took a few steps closer towards Orihime. "That's a valuable power."

Yaka's breathing began to become uneven. She was scared, even though the hollow couldn't see her, he could still sense her. Orihime quickly turned around to face the man.

"Come with me, woman." He ordered, his abnormally hypnotizing green eyes glared at the orange haired princess.

"Wha-"

"Do not speak." He interrupted Orihime. "You will say 'yes'anything else and I will kill, but not you."

Yaka watched as three mini portals opened behind him. Ichigo, Rangiku, and Captain Hitsugaya appeared in each one of them as if it were some kind of security camera. The surprised face that Orihime displayed told both the hollow-man and Yaka that he had her cornered.

"Do not ask any questions. Do not say anything, you have no rights. Understand, woman, that this is not negotiation. It's an order."

Yaka tried to even her breathing.

"Aizen-sama desires that power of yours and I am under orders to bring you back unharmed. I will only say it once more. Come with me, woman."

This was it…he had her cornered. There's nothing else Orihime could do other than go with him.

Yaka took a trembling step forward towards Orihime, this caused the green-eyed man to look towards her. She trembled more but then willed her feet to continue walking towards her kid.

'He can't see me, he can't see me.' Yaka chanted inside her head trying to calm her nerves. 'Can't see me.'

She made it to Orihime just as the pale man pulled out a small bracelet from his right pocket and turned back to Orihime. He tossed it to her and she caught it with distant dull eyes.

"While you have this on you will be surrounded by a special spiritual membrane and only we Arrancar will be able to sense your presence. You will also gain the ability to pass through solid objects."

"Orihime, don't do it." Yaka begged as she stood in front of the teenage girl. "We can try and find a way! I-Ichigo, we can tell him what happened! He'll do anything to protect you!" Yaka tried as Orihime stared at the bracelet in her hands. She looked up into the imaginary friend's eyes.

"Put it on and do not take it off." The green eyed devil ordered. Orihime's eyes wondered off to his before looking back down at the bracelet.

"…Okay…" She whispered as she unclipped the bracelet. Yaka tried to swipe the bracelet off of the poor girl's hands but instead, her pale white hands went through Orihime's.

"Orihime, please don't!" Yaka begged as she continuously tried to take the bracelet only to repeatedly fail.

"You have 12 hours, during that time you are permitted to say goodbye to one person and one person alone. However, if they notice you, you will be considered in violation of your orders."

Why isn't he talking about her? Surely he knows that she was here and listening!...Yaka stopped and felt tears slowly fill her eyes, he knew she couldn't do anything to help Orihime. He knew…

Yaka turned to glare at the terrifying man but was met with nothing but a soft glow of orange that was created from Orihime's powers. He had left them.

"There's nothing we can do, Yaka." Orihime whispered. Yaka turned back to the girl and found rtears slowly trailing down her brown eyes."I don't want Ichigo to get hurt." Orihime sobbed as she covered her face with both of her hands. Yaka blinked in surprise when she saw a hint of silver that glistened off of Orihime's wrist…she had worn the bracelet.

"Orihime…" Yaka whispered, she found her hand automatically moving towards the sobbing girl's shoulder but then hesitated.

What's the use of trying to comfort someone you couldn't touch?

Yaka shook her head and slowly placed her hand on Orihime's shaking shoulder and felt the soft fabric of her sweater…Yaka's eyes slightly widened. How could this be? Earlier she couldn't touch Orihime! Then realization struck her, it was the bracelet. It didn't make any sense, then again nothing so far makes any sense! Feeling more confident in being able to comfort Orihime, Yaka wrapped her arms around the crying teenager's shoulders.

"Orihime, I promise we'll find a way to get help."

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A ball of white fur and black horns sat at the edge of the roof of Los Noches outside of the former Sexth Espada's room. The tall white castle over looked the wide endless land of sand, the small animal sighed quietly as he continued to watch the boring scene.

Grimmjow had lost his left arm after returning from his'disobedient' mission in Kurakara Town and his position as an Espada. Sheep remembered Grimmjow's rampage when he finally realized that he had lost everything, his Fraccions, his arm, and his position. That whole month was horrible, Grimmjow trained endlessly with only one arm but one thing that threw Sheep off was Grimmjow's change of personality. He was quiet now and he didn't show his psychotic grin or laughter. He was almost like Ulquiorra, empty and emotionless. Sheep ruffled the fur on his head and let out a groan.

"Don't think negatively! Grimmjow'll be fine! He's just stressing right now!" The miniature animal took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. He leaned back and stared at the blue sky of Hueco Mundo.

It's been a long day, Grimmjow and the others left about three hours ago and the baby ram was waiting for his kid to come back from his mission in the mission in the Human world. It's been four months since Sheep's last visit to the Human world, Los Noches was so plain and so white. He missed going to the Human world, they had more colors and laughter and fun. An image of a pale teenager with black hair flashed through his mind.

"Yaka." Sheep mumbled as he felt tears threatening to fall. Why won't she help Grimmjow? He's not THAT bad if you look past his psychotic laughter, blood lust, short temper, and sarcasm. He actually has a softer side and Sheep was living proof of that!...well, imaginary proof.

The chibi ram sighed heavily, all he wanted was someone who would help Grimmjow find something else to do other than kill and try to pick a fight. For some reason, he had a strong feeling that Yaka could be that someone. Sheep quickly wiped away his tears with the back of his hoof.

"She has to help him! She's my only chance," Sheep felt determination swell in his tiny furry chest. "I will find a way to protect Grimmjow!"

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"Alright, I guess that's it!" Orihime placed her pen down next to her notebook she was writing in.

They were finally back to the Human world, it was a long day for the both of them. Right after the green-eyed Arrancar incident, they arrived to the Human world in time to heal Ichigo and the others. That took about two hours. After that, Orihime decided to go grocery shopping in case her guests, Rangiku and Toushirou were hungry. That took about another two hours; when they came back to the apartment, Yaka explained everything to Orihime, from her feelings to present time which was about four hours ago. Orihime spent a good two solid hours cleaning and writing chores lists.

"Tell me, why are you doing this again?" Yaka was back to normal, she was able to fly again after a few hours in the Human world but the ability to feel the sun, wind, and smell the grass had disappeared.

"Because if I just leave Rangiky-san and Toushirou-kun alone they're gonna make a mess…" She replied before listing her normal chores aloud with her fingers but then her actions accidently made her touch her silver bracelet. This caused her to stop in the middle of her list; Yaka floated on her back to watch Orihime's vivid brown eyes suddenly dim as she remembered the horrible scene with the mysterious man. "Yaka, who should I say goodbye to?"Orihime's voice suddenly fell into a whisper.

Yaka turned onto her stomach,

"What's your list of people?" Yaka asked quietly.

"Well," Orihime looked up and began to list with her fingers, "There's Tatsuki, Chad, Uryuu, Rukia, and…" Orihime's eyes glistened and her eyelid slightly drooped. "Ichigo."

"Well, it's obvious that you should go see Ichigo then…This could be your chance." Yaka tried to tease the girl to lighten the mood that filled the gloomy room, but instead of the reaction Yaka was after, Orihime fell silent. She sighed and picked up her pen again, she quickly wrote in small print in the lower right corner of her notebook, 'Goodbye, halcyon days.'

"You're right, Yaka." With that she got up leaving her list of chores and her favorite pen on the living room table. "Thank you for always being there for me." Yaka felt a sharp pain shoot through her chest when Orihime smiled at her.

The orange hair woman slipped on her shoes and opened the front door of her apartment,

"O-Orihime." Yaka suddenly felt guilty for some unknown reason.

But then her words went unheard, she watched as the door closed behind Orihime before going through the door and following the princess out to the world.

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The sun was setting and the sky was a lovely pink and purple as if making itself as presentable as it could for Orihime.

"I'm going to miss everyone." Orihime whispered as she walked towards the direction of Ichigo's house. "I just hope they won't come after me."

Both, Yaka and Orihime, know deep down that that wasn't going to be true. After a few minutes of awkward silence, they finally reached Ichigo's house. The house was a neat two story building, it wasn't too big nor was it too small.

"I'm guessing you want to go straight to Ichigo's room, right?" Yaka asked as she floated off her feet. "Or do you want to take your time going through all those walls to his room?"

Orihime glanced upward towards the window,

"T-that's his room, right?" Orihime asked pointing to the second story window which was covered with a white curtain. "How am I going to-"

Yaka rolled her eyes before sitting crisscross in mid-air.

"I don't know, Orihime." Yaka floated in front of the child-like teen. "Too bad you can't fly."

Orihime let out a short laugh,

"R-right, I forgot."

Yaka straighten her form and held out both her hands to Orihime. Orihime looked between the second story window and the Imaginary floating friend before taking both hands in hers.

"Thanks, Yaka." Orihime whispered as they slowly floated off the ground. Orihime dangled in midair as Yaka lifted them both up, "Sorry if I'm too heavy," Orihime slightly blushed. Yaka frowned, the curvy girl was a bit heavy but not obese.

"It's fine. Here, can you get in from here?" Yaka asked as Orihime furrowed her eyebrows.

"H-how do you go through solid objects?" Orihime asked as she looked up at Yaka. Yaka shrugged her shoulders,

"I just walk through, no need to concentrate on any type of energy source." Yaka offered the best advice she could.

Orihime blinked before nodding.

"Stick one foot in…just in case." Yaka pointed out as they neared the window. Orihime did as she was told and stuck a foot in; suddenly, just as the pale man said, Orihime's left foot slowly went through the solid glass of the window. With that done, Orihime stuck her whole left leg in to gain her balance with the floor. "I'll be on the roof, if you need me." Yaka informed.

"Okay…" Orihime nodded before taking a deep breath. She slowly let go of Yaka's hands and leaned forward to move into the room. The last thing Yaka heard Orihime say was, "Here we go." Before she disappeared into her crush's room.

Yaka floated to the top of the building and sat on the roof, the moon was finally out and they had about half an hour left…Yaka leaned on her back and watched the starless night.

"What am I going to do now?" Yaka whispered before slightly frowning, "Sheep's with Grimmjow…right? And Grimmjow's with that green-eyed man…" Yaka shivered from the thought of the two hollows. "What am I going to say to Sheep?" With a sigh, Yaka continued to watch the sky. "I really hope Sheep knows what's going on with me…because he's going to need to explain a whole lot."

With that, Yaka fell silent. She didn't know what to do anymore.

"Yaka," Orihime's whispered, Yaka noted that the girl sounded nervous. She sat up and headed towards Orihime.

It's time…

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Okay, so my flash drive is being stupid and didn't want to open up 'Imagine I was Gone' on my lap top so I had to rewrite the whole chapter. If I made any mistakes blame my flash drive, I already proof read my chapter 7 IN my flash drive and saved it but then,...yeah. Anyways Please write me a review! I really need to know how I'm doing on this story...I think my flash drive is trying to tell me something... But in the next chapter, Yaka meets Sheep again. Wait for the next chapter to see what Sheep has in plan for Grimmjow!


	8. Chapter 8: Big Mistake

Chapter 8: Big Mistake

You guys! ;~; You guys are so mean! -;;; Hmph! well, Thank you DarkKitsuneFluffy and ThePersonOfNothing for letting me know about Chapter 8!

I hope you guys like this chapter because our famous handsome Grimmjow is going to be appearing again in this chapter! Please read and review!

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Sheep plopped himself down on the ground as he concentrated on the constant flow of energy that electrified the air. The black horned ram couldn't help himself as his mind wondered back to a certain dark haired teenager, how is he going to talk Yaka into helping him?

The chibi ram crossed his tiny arms against his chest and groaned in frustration. He just doesn't get it! What is wrong with women now a day? Grimmjow's good looking and nice...well, at least when he wants to be, and he's not that bad of a guy, right?

Sheep gave a defeated sigh before getting up.

He'll think of something, besides, it's not like he was going to see Yaka anytime soon.

With that final thought in mind, he floated off his feet and headed back to Las Noches.

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"Orihime-san, just stay calm and don't panic." Yaka was floating back and forth behind the orange hair teen as they walked through the eerie hollow-portal. "J-just stay calm. Ichigo will come. Just follow whatever Aizen tells you to do for now."

The two females were escorted by the pokerfaced pale man. His emerald green eyes seemed to pierce anything and anyone that it looked at, but luckily for Yaka, the deathly pale man was leading the way. His back was towards Orihime and the Imaginary Friend,

"Woman." His emotionless voice sliced through the air. Something about the hollow-man irritated Yaka. Maybe it was the fact that he never called Orihime by name or the fact that he didn't bother to turn around to look at Orihime when he spoke.

"…y-yes?" Orihime's reply seemed forced, her head was lowered yet her eyes looked up towards the black hair man. When he didn't turn around, she glanced back at Yaka.

"You did not bring that thing with you."

Yaka frowned, she wasn't sure if it was a comment or a question. The words repeated itself over and over in her head. Thing? What thing?...

Yaka suddenly felt a burning flame of anger from the pit of her stomach when she realized what he meant by 'thing'. He was talking about her!

A soft hand wrapped itself around Yaka's wrist before she could let out a stream of unfriendly words, not that he could hear her anyways, she flinched out of surprise before looking at the hand and finding its owner. Orihime's eyes glistened with worry and she shook her head, mentally telling her Imaginary Friend to calm down. The darker hair teen furrowed her eyebrows when she saw the silver bracelet glistening off of the other girl's wrist. Yaka bit her lower lip before taking a deep breath as Orihime hesitantly released her friend's wrist.

They finally made it to the other end; as they stepped through to 'Las Noches', as the pastel man called it, Yaka felt a rush of energy hit her. As the mouth-like gate closed behind the trio, Yaka stood shocked at the electrifying pulse that raced through her body. It felt similar to the Soul Society but somehow stronger. Was it the spirit energy that filled the air? Yaka faintly remembered Sheep mentioning something about absorbing energy and a physical form…

"Yaka." Orihime's nervous whisper pulled the pale woman back into the real world. Yaka felt her blood run cold, they were in the middle of an enormous white room facing a rather tall throne with black columns that surrounded them left and right. Sitting on the throne was a man with slightly wavy chestnut hair, a rather wavy strand of brown hair fell in front of his sharp handsome face and ken eyes which seemed to smile down at them.

"Welcome….to our castle of Las Noches." His deep voice boomed and vibrated the air around them. Yaka shivered and felt sweat forming on her forehead;

"Aizen." Yaka gulped, she glanced around the room and noticed that two other men were in the room besides the man who escorted them and their alpha.

The first male was a rather big rough looking man who stood not too far away from where the two girls were located. Though his broad back was facing towards the two females, Yaka was 100% sure she did not want to see his face. He was bald except for a long black pony-tail that hung at the back of his head, up ahead to his left was the pale monotone man and in front of that man was a young…girl? Yaka frowned in confusion. No, it was a short black haired boy who looked half frozen and rather pissed off.

"…you are…"Aizen leaned to his right and brought his right hand up to rest his head on the back of his hand. "Inoue Orihime, correct?"

"…" Orihime didn't reply; Yaka watched Orihime gulp nervously as the human girl tried to form some kind of response to the former shinigamis captain,

"…'yes, sir'…" Yaka whispered to Orihime. Orihime blinked before opening her mouth.

"Yes, sir…"

Footsteps echoed behind the non-existent girl, she looked over her shoulder and felt her stomach drop six feet under at the sight of light blue hair.

"G-Grimmjow." She took a couple of steps back and gently bumped into Orihime.

The blue haired man stood a few feet behind Orihime, the first thing that had grabbed the black hair maiden's eyes was that fact that Grimmjow had only his right arm. The second was that his chest was wrapped with bandages and the third was his torn clothes. Grimmjow stood with a bored expression almost as if he wanted to be anywhere but here, Yaka blinked with surprise when she spotted a large fluffy cotton ball sticking out behind the vicious hollow's left leg.

"Sorry to be so forward, Orihime," Aizen continued, his voice calm, "but would you show us your power?"

Orihime suddenly froze, Yaka tore her eyes away from Grimmjow and turned back to Orihime.

"…'yes, sir'…" Yaka whispered mentally praying for their survival. "Say it…"

"…y-yes….sir…" Orihime was starting to break into cold sweat; her eyes were wide and her hands shook slightly as she stood frozen onto her spot.

"Y-Yaka?" A high pitch voice shakily called out. The pale teen suddenly felt the guilt in her gut pull even more. She hesitantly turned towards Sheep only to be tackled by the small animal, his tiny arms wrapped itself around her neck in a hug. "It is you!" He cried happily.

"Sheep.." Yaka was confused, he wasn't mad at her? So many thoughts were rushing through her head that she almost missed Aizen's request.

"…Heal Grimmjow's left arm." Aizen's voice boomed.

Both Imaginary Friends clearly heard the request, Sheep pulled away and floated in front of Yaka in shock as Orihime turned towards Grimmjow. The orange haired princess quickly glanced at Yaka for help. Yaka hesitated,

"Ridiculous!" The half frozen boy shouted in a mocking voice. He turned towards Orihime's direction revealing three purple diamonds above his left eye. The boy laughed loudly and pointed at Grimmjow. "That's impossible, Aizen-sama! Grimmjow?!"

Sheep's ears perked at Grimmjow's name before his chocolate brown eyes met Yaka's.

"S-she's your kid?" Sheep asked take a quick look at Orihime. Yaka didn't reply as she mentally weighed their options. "Can your kid really heal Grimmjow?" Sheep's voice held a hint of hope. Yaka looked at the baby ram before looking back at Orihime,

"Orihime…" Yaka whispered, the orange hair maiden glanced uncertainly at her friend, Yaka nodded once.

"His arm was reduced to ash by overseer Tousen!" The boy continued to mock. "How can you heal something that's been erased?! She is NOT a god!"

"Luppi…" Sheep furrowed his eyebrows almost in pity before his eyes adjusted to Orihime who made her way to Grimmjow. Sheep quickly left Yaka's side and straight to Grimmjow's,

Orihime gave Yaka one last glance before holding both her hands out where the taller hollow's left arm used to be, four words hesitantly left her lips.

"…sounten kishun…." A soft glow of orange filled the room as an oval shield covered the bluenette's left side. "…I reject."

Yaka watched as both Sheep and his creator watched in disbelief.

"Hey!" Luppi's voice ranged sharply making Yaka jump, "Are you listening, girl?! If this is some show to save your ass you'd better knock it off!"

Yaka clenched her shaking hands not out of anger but fear. These monsters are willing to kill you if you even look at them wrong…

"If you can't do it I'll kill you!" Luppi continued to bark, "If that power of yours is fake then there'll be no reason to…" His speech slowed as everyone in the room watched Grimmjow's left arm slowly piece itself back together out of thin air. "…keep you…alive…"

Sheep floated next to Orihime shocked at the sight before him, the soft glow faded as Orihime slowly put her hands down and stepped back towards Yaka.

"…what…?" Luppi's eyes widened.

"His arm…" Sheep whispered, he lifted his left hoof and tried to touch his kid's arm only to go through it... "It's back…"

The blue wide eyed hollow slowly flexed his left arm clearly trying to progress the sudden return of his arm, he clenched and unclenched his fist. Suddenly Sheep flew towards Yaka and tackled her again with a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you, Yaka!" Sheep shouted. Yaka yelped in surprise, "Thank you! Grimmjow can be an espada again! I promise you won't regret helping him!"

"S-Sheep," Yaka tried to gently pull the small ram off her, she needed to concentrate on trying to help Orihime survive and she can't do that with Sheep shouting in her ear. Sheep pulled away with tears in his brown eyes.

"You have no idea how much this means to him!" Sheep smiled happily.

"Hey, girl."

Both imaginary friends looked back at Grimmjow, using his thumb he pointed behind him.

"Fix up one more spot." He demanded, Yaka slightly furrowed her eyebrows at his voice…it seemed to be in a softer tone…

Orihime glanced towards Yaka, Yaka bit her lower lip as she thought this over.

"Please…" Sheep whispered. Yaka glanced down at Sheep before looking back at Orihime and stiffly nodding. Orihime walked around to Grimmjow's back; the human girl repeated the words and the oval shield returned covering his lower back. Yaka walked over to Orihime, curious as to why he wanted this certain spot healed. As Grimmjow's jacket slightly fluttered, Yaka caught sight of a scar near his hole that was embedded in his stomach.

Both girls furrowed their eyebrows as they tried to make out the healing scar. Before they both knew it, a number 6 appeared.

"What are you planning…" Luppi's voice was low and threatening. "….Grimmjow?"

Once the scar had disappeared completely and the number six was completely displayed, both Orihime and Yaka stepped away feeling tension between the two hollows. Grimmjow chuckled then looked over his shoulder towards Luppi, Yaka shivered at the blue haired hollow's insane smirk. In a blink of an eye, Grimmjow disappeared. Yaka's eyes widened and her first thought was,

"Orihime!" Yaka turned towards the human teen only to see her staring back at Yaka, completely unharmed…Grimmjow didn't kidnap Orihime…

BOOM!

Yaka's hands automatically went straight to covering her ears at the unexpected noise. Her heart drummed loudly in her chest and she quickly turned towards Luppi's direction only to see Grimmjow's backside and a lower half of a body falling onto the floor with a thud.

"Later, FORMER mister 6." Grimmjow smirked triumphantly.

Yaka slowly and shakily pulled her hands away from her ears as she felt her legs turn into rubber at the sight of the lower half of Luppi's body.

H-he just…Grimmjow just…Luppi was on the same side…

Yaka fell hard onto her bottom as her face turned paler.

These people are crazy! They were both on the same side!

Grimmjow let out a psychotic laughter that bounced off every wall and dark corner in the room. Yaka flinched and looked up at Orihime. Orihime's eyes were wide with shock and fear but her legs did not give out.

"MY POWER IS BACK!" Grimmjow shouted, "I AM NUMBER SIX! IT'S SEXTA ESPADA, GRIMMJOW!"

Orihime glanced down at Yaka's shaking form.

What had Yaka done?...

Yaka broke their eye contact and looked back at Grimmjow's back.

She made Orihime heal a psycho killer…

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They sat in the prison room staring up at the only window in the room and to make things better, the window was barred and about a good ten feet high above them.

Aizen had told them to 'stay here quietly'…but there was pretty much nothing to do.

"Orihime…" Yaka was sitting next to Orihime in the center of the room, she pulled her legs to her chest and felt her eyes water. "I'm sorry…" She whispered.

Orihime blinked and then turned away from the window to look at Yaka. They were sitting in the moonlight like some kind of damsel-in-distress anime girl.

"I'm sorry I told you to heal Grimmjow's arm…" Yaka whispered, "I shouldn't have told you to…"

"It's okay." Orihime whispered back. Yaka lifted her head and looked at the kind hearted teen next to her. "Thank you for helping me, Yaka." Orihime gave a small reassuring smile. Suddenly a growling echoed through the quiet room… Yaka turned her head towards Orihime.

"Are you hungry?" Yaka asked when she realized that the noise was Orihime's stomach. Orihime blushed and looked away.

"Y-yeah," Orihime shyly whispered. "I haven't eaten since we left Soul Society."

Yaka stood up.

"Where are you going?" Orihime asked almost alarmed. Yaka looked down at Orihime,

"I'm going to try and get someone to bring you food." Yaka plainly said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Orihime shook her head.

"N-no it's okay, really!" She stood up,

"Orihime-san, they can't see me and plus, I can go through the walls." Yaka pointed out. "I'm…" Yaka choked on the words, "Not…real, so I can't starve."

Orihime blinked and frowned slightly, she opened her mouth to say something but then quickly shut it.

"Yaka…" Orihime's eyes widened with fear, her eyes trailed to the window and her clenched left hand went straight to her chest. "Are they here?" She whispered. Yaka blinked before realizing,

"I-I don't know. I'll go check it out for you." Yaka offered. Orihime blinked before nodding, almost as if on cue the bedroom door opened revealing the green eyed hollow, Ulquiorra.

"Woman,"

Orihime turned around at the sound of his voice. In his pale thin hands were neatly folded clothes. Yaka took this opportunity and left through the door behind the Espada.

Yaka left the room and turned a corner,

"Yaka!" Sheep's voice echoed through the halls causing the dark haired girl to jump. Yaka quickly turned around to face the chibi ram,

"Sheep!" Yaka yelped in surprise. "W-what are you doing?"

"Yaka, I need your help with something, please?" Sheep begged as he floated up to eye level.

"I-I don't know." Yaka answered rubbing the back of her neck, "I have to go somewhere to see someone."

Sheep blinked before looking back behind him and then forward behind Yaka, he looked at Yaka and tilted his head to the side.

"Do you know where you're going?" Sheep asked. Yaka blushed in embarrassment.

"N-no. I don't." Yaka frowned. "But I could just fly outside and try to find them…or go through every wall in the castle." Yaka pointed out.

"Well, good luck with that. There's a desert outside the castle so be careful. If you're not careful you might end up somewhere scary."

"Then can you help me find some friends that might possibly be here?" Yaka shamefully gave up. Her shoulder slightly stooped with defeat.

"Only if you help me!" Sheep pressed. "Help me first and then I'll help you."

Yaka mentally sighed before nodding.

"Fine. What do you need?"

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"O-Orihime-san?" Yaka poked her head through the door; she looked from her left to her right making sure Ulquiorra was gone. Orihime stood in the center of the room but with different clothing. "Whoa, um, nice clothes."

From behind, Orihime looked like she was wearing a white cape, the whole outfit seemed rather fitting for her. All in all, it made her look more like a princess in a way.

"Yaka?" the orange haired girl looked over her shoulder in surprise. "Did you find them? Are they okay?"

Yaka walked in and behind her came Sheep.

"No, I-I don't know my way around the place…" Yaka scratched her left cheek in embarrassment. "My friend, Sheep, wants me to ask you something first and then he'll help. Um, the friend I told you about a few weeks ago…"

Orihime raised one eyebrow and glanced behind Yaka at the shy ram. Orihime knelt down onto her knees and smiled softly at Sheep.

"So, your name's Sheep?" Orihime asked, Sheep clung onto Yaka's leg. "Yaka talked a lot about you but I never caught your name. Nice to meet you, I'm Inoue Orihime." Orihime held out her hand and Sheep held out his black hoof.

"Nice to meet you, Orihime-san." Sheep squeaked. Yaka shook her head slightly with a small smile.

"Wow," Orihime giggled, "He does sound like Chopper!" Orihime's smile slightly widened before she looked up at Yaka.

"Orihime-san, do you still have the silver bracelet?" Yaka asked. Orihime nodded then got back up onto her feet, she looked at her wrist that held the bracelet before unclipping it and handing it to Yaka. Yaka hesitantly reached out to take the bracelet and touched the small item. It felt smooth and warm from Orihime's wrist. Feeling a bit more confident that she could touch the small accessory, Orihime dropped it onto Yaka's open hand.

"What is it for?" Orihime asked, Yaka shrugged and looked down at Sheep. Sheep smiled at the two.

"For Grimmjow."

Silence filled the air for a good ten seconds before Yaka let out a forced laugh,

"I thought I heard you say 'Grimmjow', that's hilarious!" Yaka laughed. Orihime furrowed her eyebrows as she stared back and forth between the two Imaginary Friends.

"I did!" Sheep pouted.

Yaka instantly stopped and looked at the bracelet in her hands.

"No…" Yaka shook her head, "No no no no no. Sheep, no!"

"Come on, he's still in his room! If you can give him the bracelet then we can talk to him! Please!" Sheep begged.

Orihime stood to the side feeling slightly awkward and confused.

"No! Sheep, he freaks the heck out of me!" Yaka shouted. "Did you see the way he killed Luppi?! I mean, that man's crazy! They were on the same side!"

"But Grimmjow's good looking, right?" Sheep asked. Yaka was taken aback by the sudden question; the silence seemed to repeat the question. Blood slowly crept up onto the pale woman's face,

"W-what the heck, Sheep?!" Yaka shouted her face completely pink, "That has nothing to do with this!"

"So you do agree?" Sheep asked with a small smile. Orihime let out a small laugh, "If we get this over with then I'll help you find your other friends."

Yaka rubbed her temples feeling a major headache coming,

"…." Yaka let out a strained sigh, "Fine! Get this over with. How are we going to get the bracelet to him?"

"Easy, just take it to him. We can touch the bracelet." The white ram said with a smile.

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"Why didn't you do this earlier?" Yaka asked slightly angry. The silver bracelet felt slightly heavy in her milky white hands as they stood outside of the Sexta Espada's bed chamber. "You could've done this before we came since you guys had this type of bracelet all along."

Sheep nervously coughed.

"Well…" Sheep scratched his furry head and passed through the door, Yaka followed in and blinked.

The room was only lit by moonlight and the bed was pretty much the same size as Orihime's…maybe a bit bigger. The sheets looked like it was never touched and the room looked plain white. A three seater couch stood a couple of feet away from the bed, the wall that they were facing had two glass windows…none of them barred like Orihime's; the nearest window to the two Imaginary Friends was left wide opened.

"The truth is," Sheep tried to explain as he headed towards the opened window,

"I'm scared he might kill me because…well, he hasn't seen me for about a good fifty years?" Sheep let out a small laugh as he floated out of the room and into the open air. Yaka stopped in front of the window with her mouth opened,

"Fifty years?! How old is he?!" Yaka shouted. Sheep laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I stopped counting after ten years, it just felt like fifty years so I'm not so sure." He laughed. Yaka frowned before floating out of the window after Sheep.

"Right…that's not confusing at all…." Yaka whispered sarcastically as they made their way up to the roof top. "So is it always night here?" Yaka asked as she looked up into the white crescent moon.

"There's different levels here." Sheep tried to explain. "I really don't know how to explain."

"Okay…" Yaka raised an eyebrow "Then don't, I'm trying to figure out stuff of my own."

With that said, they made it to the roof,

"He's somewhere here." Sheep whispered squinting his chibi eyes and looking around the wide roof. "Ah!" He pointed his right hoof to the right, "There he is!"

Yaka flinched then held onto the bracelet tighter, her stomach twisted into knots when she spotted a lean shadowy figure at the edge of the building. His blue hair glistening in the moonlight like the first time she saw him back in the Human World. As they walked closer to his sitting form, Yaka noticed that his eyes were closed. Grimmjow looked almost like he was asleep,

"Okay, all you have to do is put the bracelet on his wrist." Sheep said, they hesitated before inching towards the hollow. They both gulped before Yaka slowly slipped the bracelet around his wrist, she quickly clipped it on with shaking hands.

"Is that good?" Yaka whispered as she slowly backed away.

"I-I don't know." Sheep whispered.

Sheep floated a few inches closer to the bluenette and waved his hand in front of his kid's face.

"Wow, he can really sleep…" Yaka frowned. "Oh, well, it didn't work. Come on, we have to go find-"

Sheep frowned slightly before sighing. The moment Sheep took his eyes off of Grimmjow's face, piercing diamond blue eyes snapped opened.

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A/N: yes, yes, I know. I'm mean and evil. But then at least you guys have something to look forward to in the next chapter! Right? Xp sooooooo~ like always, please tell me how I did in this chapter! If you have any questions please PM me or leave me a review!

Next time in Imagine I Was Gone:

"Sheep! Run, he's crazy!" Yaka shouted backing away from the insane hollow and holding her sore stomach,

Before Sheep could respond, Grimmjow's hand shot forward and captured the side of Sheep's head. Both Imaginary Friends froze in their spot with fear pulsing through their veins as ice cold eyes glared at them.

"Who the hell are you…" His voice was drenched with disgust and venom as his hand clenched Sheep's small fluffy head. The silver bracelet glistened brightly on Grimmjow's left wrist.

"Sheep!" Yaka screamed. This is crazy! This plan was stupid!

Yaka felt her legs starting to give way, is this it for them? She needed to run away…but what about Sheep?

Oh no! Is this the end of both Yaka and Sheep?! Stay tune next month!


	9. Chapter 9: Anger is an Ugly Thing

Chapter 9: Anger is an Ugly Thing

*Sheep clears throat nervously*

Sheep: U-um, sadsmile wants to thank:

glorianas

Vinnal

KasidyQ

Natsymi

LittleMissHatty

Sivdre (for leaving a review)

Lazy Creativity

Black Eclipsed Soul

HalicanDrops

And anyone else that had favorite, reviewed, followed, or even read the story! Arigato (thank you)! *Sheep bows*

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Before Yaka could open her mouth to scream, Sheep was sent flying past her. She quickly turned around to escape but felt an unbearable pain shoot through her abdomen as the taller man sent her flying along with Sheep into the cold white desert. Yaka stopped herself from soaring further with great difficulty as pain shot through her body and tears stinging her eyes, for the second time in her imaginary life she felt pain. The dark haired woman bent over with her arms around her stomach trying to withstand the pain.

"Yaka, are you okay?" A strained high pitched voice asked as a gentle hoof was placed on her shoulder. She glanced sideways at her friend to see one of his eyes closed and his face slightly pained, his other hoof was also placed on his stomach. "We have to be careful-"

Suddenly she felt pain shoot through the base of her neck and the next thing she saw was a blurred brown as she flew towards the ground. Yaka stopped herself from going deeper into the ground and slowly floated up, her whole body ached. Her legs shook and her brain bounced around in her head but one thing was clear, this could be her chance! Yaka slowly stuck her head above the sand; she could make her get-away with Sheep distracting that demonic hollow. Yaka watched as the baby white ram stood facing his kid with a small hopeful smile on his round face.

What would Monkey D. Luffy, Uzumaki Naruto, or Allen Walker do in this type of situation? Yaka shook her head at the stupid fantasy thought, why is she even bringing these anime people into this? It's not like Grimmjow or anyone else in this world was anime! This was reality! She needed to focus, but she couldn't help but feel guilt pulsing through her when she thought of escaping without her friend.

"Sheep! Run, he's crazy!" Yaka shouted staring up at the two figures in the night sky. She bit her lip trying her best to ignore the pain that shot through her abdomen; she placed a hand over her sore stomach. How does Ichigo ignore this type of pain so easily?!

Before Sheep could respond, Grimmjow suddenly disappeared; the blue headed demon's right hand shot forward and captured the side of Sheep's head. Both Imaginary Friends froze in their spot with fear pulsing through their veins as ice cold eyes glared at them. When did he get there?!

"Who the hell are you…" His voice was drenched with disgust and venom as his hand clenched Sheep's small fluffy head. The silver bracelet glistened brightly on Grimmjow's left wrist.

"Sheep!" Yaka screamed. This is crazy! This plan was stupid!

Yaka felt her legs starting to give way, is this it for them? She needed to run away…but what about Sheep?

Time was running out as Sheep tried to open his mouth to speak but nothing came out; annoyed, Grimmjow's right hand began to glow a terrifying blue. Yaka panicked and felt her body move by itself. She soared upwards towards the insane hollow and felt pain spike through the top of her head as she rammed straight into Grimmjow's iron hard chest; luck was on her side as she threw him off causing him to release Sheep.

"RUN!" Yaka shouted quickly turning tail and grabbing the dazed ram, the black haired woman felt her head throb as if it had its own heart. What was that guy's chest made out of?! It didn't feel like bones that's for sure! She knew that Grimmjow was hot on their tail probably grinning like the manic he is. "How are we going to survive now?!" Yaka shouted as she headed towards the white building praying she'll make through the wall before Grimmjow captured them. The shaking animal whimpered in her arms with his fluffy ears pressing down onto his head, his light brown eyes glistened with tears and Yaka felt the tiny animal curl into a ball in her arms,

"He didn't recognize me," He whispered in the most heart-breaking tone.

"You think?!" She felt a cold hand wrap around her ankle and suddenly she was pulled backwards, she threw Sheep as far as she could forward. "Sheep! Keep going!" She shouted at the top of her lungs just as Grimmjow's right hand came straight at her stomach, an attempt to impale her. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the pain that didn't come. Her whole body shook violently and her arms were crossed in front of her face as she slowly opened her eyes, she felt cold sweat forming on her forehead.

"Sheep, huh?" Grimmjow glared down at the woman before him then slowly trailed his eyes towards the white fluff poking half-way out of the wall of Las Noches. Like a frighten rabbit, Yaka took this opening to fly towards the wall in case the Sexta Espada decided to finish her off.

"Grim-kun," Sheep's voice ringed happily, "Do you remember me now?" He flew out of the wall and inched towards the Espada while Yaka did the opposite. Grimmjow's piercing blue eyes glared at them,

"Yeah, I remember." He held his head high and sneered in disgust. "What the hell are you doing here, annoying brat?"

Yaka's legs shook and her eyes lowered to his feet from his intense glare.

"Sheep, let's get out of here. He'll kill us for sure."

"Grim-kun," Sheep stepped to the side and gestured towards the white building that Yaka was slowly inching towards. "Can we go inside?" He asked with a smile. "We'll explain everything there."

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Yaka stood at the other end of the room as Sheep explained everything from the first day the Imaginary Friends met to present time. The story took about a good hour and a half which helped her trembling slow but not completely stopped. Sheep stood in front of Grimmjow who was sitting on his white couch facing Yaka with one arm behind the couch.

"Yaka is Orihime-san's Imaginary Friend," Sheep added.

"I don't care who the hell she is," Grimmjow spat harshly making Yaka wince, "I thought you died years ago, why did you come back, Brat?"

"Well, I didn't die; you just forgot that I existed…" Sheep's voice lowered slightly but then he forced a smile. "But that's not the point. Grim-kun, I really believe that she can help you!"

Grimmjow shifted his glare towards the woman behind the white ram and grinned evily,

"That scaredy-cat that shit her pants?" He threw his head back and let out a psychotic laugh that seemed to echo throughout the whole building. "Why would I need her? She can't do anything that's worth serving me!"

Yaka didn't take any of his words offensively, mostly because they're true and she hoped that Sheep would just give up. There was no point in trying to talk to this psychopathic killer.

"Grim-kun , she's not suppose to serve you." Sheep nervously shifted from one hoof to another, "I believe that she can help you with finding a reason to change." The white ram smiled suddenly Grimmjow quickly got up and grabbed a hold of his Imaginary Friend's neck.

"What…" Grimmjow's voice was low and dangerous as he glared at Sheep, "the hell are you say?"

Yaka's heart skipped a beat when her wrecked brain finally processed what had happened. Grimmjow threw the white fluff towards the window but the pale skinned maiden dashed forward and caught the innocent Imaginary Friend, the force that Grimmjow had used would've thrown Sheep a good distance away from Las Noches but was interfered when Yaka caught the animal. Instead, they flew out a few feet away from the building. Yaka panted as she started to exceed her limit, Sheep looked up at his friend and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Y-Yaka, thank you." He pulled away from her and gently took her wrist. "You might have to go back to Orihime first, you might disappear. You're using too much energy."

The pale girl looked up towards the building,

"Sheep, you are either stupid or crazy." She panted feeling light headed. "He won't listen no matter what; you of all people should know that."

"Yaka, why are you lowering?" Sheep's eyes widen with worry; at first the taller Imaginary Friend didn't understand the question until she noticed that Grimmjow's floor was starting to get taller. She looked down towards her feet and saw that the tips of her boots were starting to fade rather quickly. Yaka panted heavily and her chest felt heavy as her strength slipped away with every breath. "Yaka!" Sheep grabbed a hold of her right hand with both hoofs and, with all his might, slowly pulled her towards Grimmjow's bedroom floor. With great difficulty, Sheep was able to make it back to Grimmjow, who seemed to be waiting for their return. Sheep tried placing the half-conscious woman on the floor but saw that she was starting to sink through it, with no choice, Sheep crawled under her so her head rested on his shoulder and tried to give her a piggy back ride but failed horribly. He shot Grimmjow a pleading look. "Grim-kun, we have to go to Orihime-san, please!" Sheep's eyes started to tear up.

"He won't…" Yaka managed to whisper tiredly, audible enough for just Sheep to hear.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Grimmjow glared down at them with challenging eyes that clearly said 'I don't give a fuck'.

"Please, Grim-kun!" Sheep tried to blink away the tears while holding his friend from sinking through the pale floor, he noticed that they were both starting to sink through; he was almost at his limit too. "You owe Orihime-san! You have a dept to pay to her for healing you!"

"Sheep…" Yaka whispered..why is he doing this for her? Especially after she yelled at him and insulted his kid.

"Tsk!" Grimmjow glared down at them in silence. Sheep struggled to look into Grimmjow's light blue eyes and, at the same time, keeping afloat. Sheep struggled more when the floor seemed to swallow both Imaginary Friends up until suddenly Yaka's weight lightened and then completely disappeared from his back. "You always cause trouble for me, fuzz ball." Grimmjow growled as he tossed Yaka over his left shoulder.

"Grimmjow..." Sheep floated up onto the floor and stared in shock, he actually listened…there IS a chance that Grimmjow could change. Sheep couldn't help but smile. Grimmjow turned towards the door but then caught Sheep's smile and stopped.

"What's that face for?" Grimmjow frowned and his eyes narrowed dangerously, "If you don't stop smiling, I'll rip it off your face."

Immune to his threats and death glares, Sheep smiled wider and nodded.

"What the hell?!" Grimmjow made his way towards the door but then noticed that the woman on his shoulder started to get lighter; his eyes widened when her knees down were gone! Sheep quickly flew over,

"We have to hurry…" Sheep grabbed a hold of Grimmjow's sleeve of his free hand and tugged it towards the direction of Orihime's location.

"Tsk!" Grimmjow gritted his teeth as his fluffy friend pulled him towards the door, the hollow roughly pulled his arm back releasing Sheep's hold. "Don't touch me." Grimmjow opened the door and was immediately pushed forward from the back. "T-teme!" He growled over his shoulder at Sheep.

"We have to hurry, Grim-kun!" Sheep panted as he pushed the lean hollow. He didn't have much time either…

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"Let me out of here!" Orihime pound the door with all her strength, tears threatening to fall. Her legs shook slightly, "Let me out!" It had been hours since Yaka and her little friend had left and, unlike Chad and Rukia whose spiritual energy had disappeared during those hours, Orihime wasn't sure if her Imaginary Friend will ever return. "Please…" Her loud voice had softened and slightly cracked, "Let me out…" The orange haired beauty pressed her forehead against the door and, slowly, her tears fell from her eyes, "No…This can't be…" Her tears began to pour at the thought of her friends' spiritual energy disappearing one at a time. She stayed in her position for what felt like hours until she hesitantly gave up, she moved away from the door in defeat, slowly she dragged her feet to kneel in front of the rectangular sofa that faced the bed she never used. Orihime folded her arms on the rather soft couch and pressed her forehead against her forearm wanting to curl up and cry. Suddenly she quickly lifted her head up, another spiritual energy had disappeared…everything seemed to close in on her; her breathing became uneven, "Kurosaki…kun…" Her eyes widened with realization. She jumped slightly at the sound of the door unlocking; she snapped her head towards the door and quickly got up.

"Ulqui-" Orihime was ready to beg the male hollow to release her, she knew she was no match when it came to combat but hopefully a little reasoning could help her to her advantage. Yet, she was very doubtful of that idea.

"Looky, looky, see?" Orihime paused midstep towards the door, a shiver crept slowly up and down her spine at the unfamiliar female voice. "Our little princess is all alone…" Orihime stared wide eyed as two girls slowly pushed opened the door. "Ooooorihiiiime-chaaaaan~ We're gonna have some funnn~!"

Orihime felt her heart speed up and her blood run cold as she stared into the black haired girl's crazed eyes. She wore revealing clothes and a short skirt, her black hair was pulled up into two pig-tails on either side of head and her signature hollow mask only covered her left eye. Orihime felt as if someone had pressed the fast forward button as the predator quickly rushed forward and grabbed a hand full of Orihime's orange hair and without warning, the female hollow pulled back her clenched fist and swung forward. The insane hollow laughed hysterically as Orihime flew backwards knocking down a white empty vase stand, before Orihime could shake off her spinning aching head she felt the same harsh hand grip her sore scalp once more before pulling her upwards.

"Serves you right! There's no way you can beat an Arrancar with mere human strength!" The woman laughed mockingly. Orihime slightly narrowed her eyes trying to figure out why the woman held such a grudge against her. "What the hell is that look for?!" The arrancar released her death grip, swung her fist, and connected with Orihime's right cheek.

"Hey, can't you do this a little more quietly?" The second hollow asked nervously looking between the door and the two girls.

"Shut up!" The black haired hollow spat at her comrade before turning back to the injured human girl, a devilish grin crept onto the preditor's lips, "Yes! I know! Let's tear out all your fingernails!"

"Grim-kun! Hurry up! Orihime-san is in trouble!"

"O-Orihime-san!" A familiar voice shouted sounding tired and strained.

Before Orihime could process the familiar worried voice, the bedroom door exploded shocking all three girls. Orihime's face throbbed but she was able to widen her eyes at the sight behind Loli and her companion.

"Wha-" The nervous one shouted as they both looked over their shoulder, "What the..?!"

The smoke and dust clouded their vision until someone stepped confidently out of the smoke screen; Orihime's brown eyes met diamond blue ones. A small white blur dashed over towards the swollen face girl whose long hair was still trapped inside of Loli's death grip,

"O-Orihime-san!" Gentle black hoofs placed themselves on her shoulder and the baby ram's big light brown eyes glisten with concern before he shifted his eyes towards the hollow imprisoning Orihime. Orihime couldn't focus her eyes on the limp fading form that was thrown over the Sexta Espada's shoulder until the familiar black haired maiden's legs began to regenerate and her colors returned. The Sexta Espada's blue eyes slightly narrowed at the Imaginary Friend's regeneration before shifting his eyes to Orihime then to the two predators.

"G-Grimmjow!" Loli studdered as she tried to hold a serious face. Her tone accused him of trespassing, however, hearing a hint of fear in her voice caused Grimmjow to grin.

"Yo,"

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Yaka could feel her legs and strength coming back now that they were within range of Orihime. She shivered at the position she was in; being this close to a real hollow, let alone touching one, was truly terrifying.

"Get off." Grimmjow's voice was low enough for her to hear and not raise suspicion; without hesitation Yaka gladly floated off his shoulder. She landed a few feet away from the craze hollows and placed her right hand on her temple trying to steady herself as the whole world seemed to spin uncontrollably.

"O-Orihime-san." She squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them; she slowly floated towards her kid. Her vision slowly came to focus; the pale woman's eyes widened when she noticed how banged up Orihime was. Her left eye had swollen up to the point where it was almost closed shut, her nose and lip bled, and her right cheek held a dark blue bruise. As the scarring image sunk into memory, Yaka felt anger bubble inside the pit of her stomach. What did Orihime ever do to these people?! She clenched her fists tightly when the bubbles didn't seem to cease, not knowing what else to do with her feelings she swung out blindly at Loli who still had her hand locked onto Orihime's orange hair. She felt her eyes sting with angry tears when she realize that none of her fists were connecting and, instead, were going through the skinny hollow. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" She tried yelling at the top of her lungs yet no one except two people and one Imaginary Friend seem to hear.

"Y-Yaka…san.." Orihime's soft voice reached the raging pale woman.

Suddenly a flash of white blur connected to Loli's stomach causing the pigtail female hollow to release Orihime's hair and was sent flying backwards. Out of reflex, Yaka jumped backwards with her arms out in an X formation in front of her. Her eyes widened when she saw Grimmjow standing where Loli once stood; his hands in his pocket and a disgusted scowl on his flawless face. Everyone in the room froze and stared in shock as the weaker hollow skidded across the room and finally landing on her side far behind Orihime and Sheep. Loli pushed herself halfway up with her elbow before quickly lowering her head and throwing up. Yaka saw the room glow softly and she turned her attention to the second female hollow.

"Grimmjow!" The short haired female dashed forward towards the blue haired hollow's back with a dangerous blaze in her left fist but was quickly stopped by Grimmjow. There was a split second of silence in the room before Grimmjow's hand burned with his own cero causing the younger hollow to widen her eyes at her mistake of taking him on. Everything ended with a loud earth-shaking BOOM then was followed with dead silence. Yaka stood frozen in her spot staring at only half of the former hollow; her whole body shook as she witnessed the intensity of Grimmjow's destructive force. Someone shifted at the corner of Yaka's eyes causing her to quickly turn to find Orihime struggling to get up to her feet, she eventually got there with the little ram's help.

"A…" Yaka's whole being shook as she shifted her eyes towards Loli's laying form, she already pitied the hollow woman. "Aizen-sama, won't stay quiet…" Yaka could clearly see the anger in her eyes as she tried to crawl away. Yaka stiffly gulped and glanced at Grimmjow then back at the dark haired hollow. "About you doing this stuff to us, you know." Loli tried to sound threatening but everyone in the room knew she was scared of Grimmjow.

She would've survived longer if she had just stayed quiet…even though Yaka hadn't known Grimmjow for long, she knew, from experience that Grimmjow thrived on challenges and Loli was challenging him right now.

"G-Grimmjow.." Yaka's voice came out as a weak croak; she was too scared to even stop the demon.

"The likes of you.." Loli continued insulting the alpha male. The male hollow narrowed his eyes and walked towards the omega and, before anyone could register what was going to happen, Grimmjow grabbed a hold of Loli's left leg causing her to stop in the middle of her sentence. "Eh..?"

Yaka firmly covered her ears, squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and turned her head away from the horrible scene that was going to take place. She knew that hollow girl was done for…Yaka couldn't bare the thought of what Grimmjow was going to do next. Even with her ears securely covered with both hands, Yaka could hear muffled panic talking from Loli then suddenly Yaka's whole body instantly went cold when she literally felt the air around her vibrate from the sound of bones snapping and her heart skipped a beat when a blood curdling scream pierced through her hands and into her ears. Fearful tears crept out from the corner of Yaka's eyes as she snapped them open.

What if Grimmjow was going to turn on them and do the same thing to them? There's no guarantee that Grimmjow wouldn't do it, he is a hollow after all. A blood thirsty, dirty mouth, good-for-nothing hollow; this wasn't a fanfiction where she would instantly fall in love with someone like him the moment he shows his face! He only takes what benefits him.

Gentle hoofs shook Yaka out of her tortuous thoughts of the future, Yaka's eyes were still wide as she hesitantly turned to face her tiny friend and that was when she realized that tears were streaming down her face. Sheep's lips moved yet no words came out.

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Sheep felt fear grip his being when Grimmjow tore off Loli's left leg without mercy or the slightest hesitation. His kid has grown so much but without a real purpose or goal…

"S-Sheep-kun." A calm yet worried voice whispered; Sheep blinked and glanced at the orange haired woman beside him. "Please, go see if Yaka-san is okay…" Sheep noticed that the bond between Yaka and Orihime had strengthened, even if a little. He nodded before floating towards the taller Imaginary Friend, he reached out to touch her shoulder but then let his black hoof hover an inch above her black tank top strap when he noticed her trembling had started once again.

Sheep couldn't blame Yaka for being scared of Grimmjow…especially when they had just survived his attack not even two hours ago. Sheep furrowed his furry brows before gently placing his hoof on her shoulder, the slightest touch caused her to jump and fearfully turn to him with wide eyes; tears were streaming down her dark orbs,

"Yaka," He tried to comfort with a smile. "It's over, let's head…" He stopped midsentence when she made no move to pull her hands away from her ears. Sheep placed his hooves on both her hands and calmly pulled them away from her ears. "Come on." He took her hand and pulled her towards Orihime as Grimmjow made his way towards the orange haired princess as well.

"W-why…" Orihime asked with wide eyes. Grimmjow held his head high and his hands in his pockets as he glanced down at Orihime.

"To repay you for my left arm." He simply replied with slight annoyance. Sheep mentally cheered, Grimmjow was still the same hollow-boy who created him! Deep down, Sheep knew it! There was still a chance Grimmjow could change for the good! Sheep and Yaka stopped within reach of both Grimmjow and Orihime.

"W-what are you doing…?" Before Orihime could finish Grimmjow's hand shot forward and grabbed the young woman's shirt collar and roughly lifted her up until her feet dangled limply a good foot off the floor.

"'What am I doing?' Did you think I came here just to save you?" Grimmjow scuffed with a grin. Sheep could literally feel Yaka hesitantly backing away thinking she was going to be next. "How naïve. My debt to you has been repaid so I'm not gonna take any shit. Now you're gonna accompany me on an errand." The blue eyed man grinned devilishly.

"G-Grim-kun!" Sheep tried to stand up for his friend,

"Shut up!" Grimmjow growled snapping his head towards Sheep, "You little shit head," Grimmjow dropped the human girl and turned his attention back to her, "Fix up your face."

Sheep glanced behind him and found Yaka's eyes shifting from Loli's decapitated leg to the two other pair of legs that belonged to the other hollow. He opened his mouth to say something but noticed that Orihime had caught Yaka's fearful eyes glued onto the bodies. The human girl dashed towards the closest, Loli, and knelt down beside her pitiful form.

"Hey!" Orihime's action had thrown Grimmjow off.

Sheep watched carefully as Yaka covered her mouth with one hand trying to not gag as reality hit her.

"W-what are you doing?" Loli broke into cold sweat now that she was in no condition of defending herself. Orihime held out her hands above the other woman's leg and didn't reply, "I said what the hell are you doing?!" Loli swung her fist and landed a solid hit on Orihime's cheek yet the determined orange head merely glanced at the hollow before proceeding; a soft orange glowing oval radiated around Loli's leg and, just as she had healed Grimmjow's arm, Loli's leg had slowly pieced itself together. "No…no way.." Loli stared wide eyed with fear at the magic that Orihime had produced. Getting up, Orihime proceeded towards the second hollow. Sheep glanced back at Yaka and noted that her shaking had decreased,

"Tsk." Grimmjow stood next to Sheep with his hands in his pocket and a glare directed towards Orihime. "Soft hearted idiot." He growled. Sheep smiled slightly causing the blue eyed hollow to shift his glare to him. "What the hell is that face for you piece of fluff?" He spat.

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Yaka felt her stomach slowly return to normal as she lowered her hand away from her mouth. It was truly disturbing seeing how Grimmjow dealt with weaker beings and she didn't want to see what he could do to her or Orihime.

"Yaka-san?"

Yaka jumped slightly and a yelp escaped from her lips before she realized that it was the orange haired woman that had said her name. Yaka tried to calm her beating heart and furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed that Orihime still hadn't healed herself.

"Orihime-san," Yaka's voice was still slightly tight with fear but she managed to speak, "Please, do what Grimmjow asks you to do for now until we see Ichigo-san." She whispered hoping that the demon and his Imaginary Friend wouldn't hear. Orihime's eyes glistened with concern then hesitantly nodded,

"Oi," Grimmjow's rough voice snapped at the two girls causing them to jump, "Heal your face already, woman!"

"H-hai," Orihime hesitantly obeyed.

"Her healing powers are so amazing!" Yaka jumped ten feet in the air from the sudden close voice.

"S-Sheep!" She shouted pointing an accusing finger at the small ram. "What the heck?! What's wrong with you?" She didn't even hear him behind her! Instead of a reaction, Sheep innocently blinked at Yaka with a smile. Before she could question the chibi ram, she saw movement from the corner of her eye.

"O-Orihime!" She shouted trying to warn the healing human but was too slow when Grimmjow gagged her and tied her wrists together rather quickly. The dark haired female felt a mixture of anger and fear swirling in her chest; she was NOT going to let anything happen to Orihime again! "G-Grimmjow!" Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time in Imagine I was Gone!

"Yaka," Sheep whispered as they followed Grimmjow down the endless halls of Las Noches. Yaka slightly glared at Grimmjow's back hoping to set his jacket on fire yet scared that he might stop and turn around to sock her in the face.

"What do you want," She snapped back in a whisper without looking at him.

"Do you want to be a real human?"

The sudden question caused Yaka to stop walking and slowly turned to Sheep who also stopped.

"W-What do you mean? Is there a way?" She asked feeling a sudden happiness sprout its way in her chest yet she knew there was probably a price to pay, just like all those anime characters that she's seen.

"There is…" Sheep nodded but his eyes said something else, something that she knew she wouldn't like. "But I need you to promise that you'll take care of Grimmjow for me…"

"You're not making any sense."

"I'm telling you that there's a way you could become a real being, so just hear me out, please. This is a lifetime request." Grimmjow's figure shrunk with distance and Yaka felt uneasy leaving Orihime alone with Grimmjow yet she wanted to know this one secret….a secret that could change her life as an Imaginary Friend to a REAL spirit...Her previous thoughts of being able to feel everything, to eat ice cream, to jump into cold lake water, and to actually talk to someone besides Orihime flooded her mind. She wanted to become a real soul so badly…

With a hesitant gulp and that selfish thought in mind, Yaka nodded.

"I-I promise to take care of Grimmjow."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A Selfish Coward

*Yaka stands nervously scratching the back of her head*

Yaka: I don't get why sad-sama has to do this to me, it was KasidyQ that wanted Sheep, no one said anything about me…not that it's anything new...

*sadsmile pokes her head out from the side of the screen and whispers to Yaka*

Sadsmile: Just say your line!

Yaka: Hai, hai, *anime sweat drops* *coughs into fist* sadsmile wants to thank:

MissKatress

OCLover89

KasidyQ

GrimmaulDee

Winged music box

wolfblood00

and everyone else who has read, favored, and/or reviewed Imagine I was Gone….can I go now?

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"Yaka," Sheep whispered as they followed Grimmjow down the endless halls of Las Noches. Yaka slightly glared at Grimmjow's back hoping to set his jacket on fire yet scared that he might stop and turn around to sock her in the face.

"What do you want," She snapped back in a whisper without looking at the white ram.

"Do you want to be a real human?"

The sudden question caused Yaka to stop walking and slowly turned to Sheep who also stopped.

"W-What do you mean? Is there a way?" She asked feeling a sudden happiness sprout its way in her chest yet she knew there was probably a price to pay, just like all those anime characters that she's seen.

"There is…" Sheep nodded but his eyes said something else, something that she knew she wouldn't like. "But I need you to promise that you'll take care of Grimmjow for me…"

"You're not making any sense."

"I'm telling you that there's a way you could become a real being, so just hear me out, please. This is a lifetime request." Grimmjow's figure shrunk with distance and Yaka felt uneasy leaving Orihime alone with Grimmjow yet she wanted to know this one secret….a secret that could change her life as an Imaginary Friend to a REAL spirit...Her previous thoughts of being able to feel everything, to eat ice cream, to jump into cold lake water, and to actually talk to someone besides Orihime flooded her mind. She wanted to become a real soul so badly…

With a hesitant gulp and that selfish thought in mind, Yaka nodded.

"I-I promise to take care of Grimmjow."

Both Imaginary Friends stood staring into each other's eyes waiting to see who would give in first; after a few more seconds Grimmjow's footsteps faded completely, Sheep sighed finally breaking the eye contact.

"I believe you, Yaka." He said, Yaka noticed his voice held a hint of sadness. "Follow me."

Yaka watched as her friend floated through the wall towards the outside of Las Noches.

"How long is it going to take?" Yaka asked glancing nervously back towards the tall white building. She really hated the thought of leaving Orihime alone once again; the pale teen turned her attention towards Sheep when he didn't reply. Instead of repeating, Yaka kept her mouth shut until a black forest came into view. Yaka slowed to a stop and felt a shiver run up her spine.

The silvery quartz trees were enormous and seemed to touch the sky but that wasn't the thing that bothered her, it was the fact that the forest held a gloomy aura.

"What's wrong?" Sheep popped out in front of her causing her to jump backwards.

"Sheep!" She jumped forward and swung her closed fist downwards on his fluffy head causing his head to jerk forward and a big round pink bump formed within seconds. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Etteeee!" Sheep shouted trying to reach the bump on top of his head but only succeeded in touching the area around the throbbing site because of his short chibi arms. Tears made its way to the corner of his eyes as he glared at the taller nonexistent soul and floated to her eye level. "You didn't have to hit me so hard! It's not my fault you don't pay attention!" He shouted.

The stubborn pale teen bit her lower lip and huffed turning away with her arms crossed against her chest.

"Still!" She pouted. Sheep frowned at his childish friend and shook his head,

"Whatever, we need to hurry up if you want to go back to Orihime." The small puff ball gestured towards the woods. Yaka shivered visibly. There is no way she'll go in there! "It's the only way to become real."

Well, besides that…

"F-fine." Yaka hesitantly glanced over at the woods. Sheep led the way with Yaka following, he would occasionally glance over his shoulder at her to make sure she didn't turn tails and fly the opposite way, even though that was what she had thought of doing multiple times as they continued through the dark trees.

They finally came to a clearing but Sheep held out a hoof to stop Yaka from proceeding into the clearing. She opened her mouth to question his actions but then an eerie growl rumbled from up ahead. Her brown eyes trialed from the white animal to the four legged figure that approached the clearing; she instinctively took a step back and felt cold sweat form on her forehead when she realized the species of the demonic create. It's spiky four legs were attached to a rough fiery red skinned body.

"This is where handicapped hollows come to fight to the death." Sheep whispered. Yaka couldn't turn away from the demon when she noticed two bloody holes on either side of its body where its arms used to be attached. "They're hoping to evolve and get a new body..."

Suddenly the air behind them shifted. The dark haired teen stiffened and she felt her blood run cold just as a second hollow walked right through the two nonexistent beings. She watched as the enormous unhealthy grey boar-like hollow limped towards the center to meet its opponent; the match started instantly. Yaka automatically covered her mouth and lurched forward, her stomach twisted into knots and she felt the whole world spin. The fight was unbearable; the boar hollow had entered the fight knowing it was going to lose no matter what, for its lower jaw was smashed and was uselessly hanging opened. Its ribs and spine were visible from months of starvation. The red skinned demon began tear chunks of flesh at a time using its white masked teeth howling as it did so. It's once pale white mask was now drenched in disgusting black and red blood as it continued its assault.

The teen felt her stomach flex harshly as she gagged, kneeling down, she held herself up with one hand and held her stomach with the other. The ear piercing squeal of the boar echoed noisily in the dark forest as it slowly met its death.

"Yaka, it's over." Sheep's voice was neither afraid nor excited. It was almost as if he was used to seeing these horrible scenes. Yaka tried to steady herself before lifting her head to see what was next. The first hollow had collapsed only a few feet away from its opponent from exhaustion. She witnessed the murdered boar slowly turn into ash flakes just like all the other hollows Ichigo killed. "Hurry, now's our chance." She felt small hooves grab a hold of her upper arm and pulled her towards the clearing. Too weak to protest and still not over the shock, the pale woman stumbled along with the tiny animal. "Okay," He circled to face her. "Now here's the easy part, just breath in the spirit particles."

It took a few minutes for the information to settle into her brain, when it finally clicked, Yaka covered her nose and mouth with both hands.

"Are you crazy?!" her voice was muffled but she knew Sheep could still hear her clearly. "I don't want to breath in dead hollow particles!"

"It's the only way!"

"No! There's always another way!"

"Yaka, we don't have time for this! Hurry up before Grimmjow reaches Ichigo!"

Yaka's body tensed when Orihime flashed through her mind. Orihime's with Grimmjow and if Grimmjow was heading to Ichigo. Yaka felt like smacking herself with a brick, why is the so slow at realizing these type of things?! Grimmjow's going to use Orihime to bring back Ichigo and knowing Orihime, she'll refuse to bring back Ichigo just to get him hurt once more. Yaka stiffly removed her hands from her mouth and nose.

Orihime's going to get killed if she disobeys Grimmjow.

Yaka forced lungful of the dead spirit particles into her system and felt her throat tighten. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to think of the 'positive' side for once. The air of spirit particles felt thick yet comfortable if one's not thinking about where these special specks are coming from.

"Okay, that's enough for now." Sheep tugged Yaka backwards causing the woman to stumble. "I don't want you to become real right away because this is the worse place you can become a spirit." Sheep pointed out as he continued to drag the weak lady. "Y-you're still so heavy!" He panted barely lifting the taller girl off the ground.

Yaka frowned at the comment before slapping his small hooves off of her.

"I can fly on my own, geez!" She turned to him and slightly pushed off the ground…only to come back down. Cold sweat immediately broke out from her forehead.

This is NOT good.

"You took too much!" Sheep yelped with slight panic in his eyes. "Baka! I told you not to take too much! Baka!"

Sheep's panic screaming was not helping one bit. Yaka tried to clear her mind and jumped a bit higher this time, she succeeded in mid-air for five seconds before landing with a thud back on her feet.

"Calm down." She whispered mostly to herself.

"Calm down? Calm down?! How are we suppose to calm down?! There are hollows in this forest! How the heck are you suppose to get out now that they can sense you?!" Sheep placed his hooves on either side of his head in pure panic. "How are you supposed to protect Grimmjow when you're dead?!"

That was the last straw.

Yaka grabbed a hold of the small ram and head locked the poor animal with an anime vein twitching above her right eyebrow.

"Would you calm down and let me think for a second?!" She shouted before blinking in surprise.

"Y-Yaka…" Sheep gasped, "H-hu-hurting, you're hurting me!"

Yaka released the small ram who quickly flew up higher out of the half-human half-imaginary friend's reach.

"Sheep, I can still touch you." Yaka pointed out. "Maybe if I concentrate hard enough." Not waiting for a response, she furrowed her eyebrows and tried to remember the sensation of flying. "Okay…" She slightly kicked off from the ground and succeeded in about a foot off the ground. A smile broke out on her face, "Yes!"

"Okay, hurry before it's too late." Sheep brushed off the happy woman. With no time to waste, both friends headed back as fast as they could to Las Noches.

"Please make it." Yaka quietly prayed as she felt herself slowly lowering to the ground; the tip of her left boot scrapped against the loose white sand causing her to jolt her feet backwards away from the strange feeling of the soft sand. She glanced behind her and, sure enough, there was a long streak of evidence that she had left behind and that was when she realized how scared she was to try new strange things for the first time.

"We're almost there, just hold on." Sheep had flown just a few feet ahead and would glance back at her occasionally.

Right when the tall towers of Las Noches were visible, Yaka felt her feet drag against the sand once more.

"Sheep!" Before she could say another word, she fell face forward into the cold sand. Yaka would've been happy to experience how sand felt like but having them inside her mouth was a different story.

"Yaka!" Sheep flew back to his friend and helped her sit up. The tannish white sand around her lips caused the chibi animal to strangle a laugh; he coughed into a black hoof when Yaka snapped her head towards his direction with a death glare. "We were so close." He glanced back towards the building then blinked, his small ears perked up. "Hold on, stay here and don't go anywhere." He floated upwards and left full speed towards the castle without another word.

Yaka shivered, she was here alone…in a place she's not familiar with and doesn't want to be familiar with. She let out a pathetic yelp when she heard something blow against her ear and skin, she steadied her heart when she felt cool air blowing her black messy hair. It's the wind… this is how wind feels like. It felt…nice.

"Yaka," Sheep's voice snapped the young teen back to reality. "Grimmjow and Ichigo are fighting!" Sheep's eyes glistened with panic tears as he tugged violently at the pale teen's arm, "Hurry! We have to go!"

Yaka stumbled onto her feet and ran with difficulty towards the white castle.

"W-what the heck am I suppose to do?!" The thought finally hit her like a rock as the sound of giant red pillars collapsed and crashed loudly shaking the entire area, "I can't just step in the middle of the battle and try to stop them! They'll kill me!"

But the cotton fluff animal ignored her words as he continued to pull her towards her doom. He slightly huffed out of breath and his tug began to lose its power.

"We have to…" he huffed as they closed the distance between them and the battle taken place outside. "Grimmjow…"

"Why do you care about a maniac like him?!" Yaka was desperate to get away from the intense battle. She roughly pulled her arm back and took three hasty steps back. She was so close to becoming real! She didn't want to die right after that! Sheep quickly turned around towards the black tank-top woman.

"I care as much as you care about Orihime-san!" Sheep shouted furrowing his eyebrows with slight anger. "Now, hurry up! We can't just stand around and chit-chat!" He flew towards her but resulted in her stepping further away, she returned his heated look ten-folds.

"I hate Orihime!" She felt her heart pounding against her chest as she said those words. "I only cared about her because she was my only chance…to survive." She tried not to let her voice crack but failed terribly. "That's all. If I could survive without her…." She fell silent and didn't bother to finish her sentence.

"You…" Sheep stared wide eyed at the girl in front of him then narrowed his eyes into a glare causing the dark haired woman to shiver. A glare that looked very similar to the bluenette. "You're a selfish coward." Yaka felt her eyes widen.

His words pierced her chest and she couldn't understand why…she knew she was a coward and a selfish person from the beginning…but why did it still hurt? She lowered her eyes to her feet. No…she knew why. It was because her first friend called her a selfish coward.

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A/N: Sorry for the very long wait everyone! I just want to let everyone know that I love you! XD and no I'm not taking anything, I promise! Thanks everyone for reading and (some of you) reviewing! 3 I will try to post up the next chapter because it's suppose to get better! I promise! Next chapter! Please stick around until then! Also! Don't forget to send me a review, I need to know how I'm doing so far!


	11. Chapter 11: No Goodbyes

Chapter 11: No Goodbyes

A/N: VERY IMPORTANT! Grimmjow, please tell your lovely fangirls this important news~ ^^

Grimmjow: Tsk, there's gonna be a second book to Imagine I Was Gone, your idiot author here hasn't made up her mind about the title name.

Sad: *nervous laugh* uhm, you couldn't have said that in a nicer way?/3

Grimmjow: No.

Sad: *anime sweatdrop* a-anyways, Thank you!

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Even though his words hurt, she still couldn't ignore the fear in her gut.

"You promised," Sheep furrowed his fur covered eyebrows in frustration, "You said you would take care of Grimmjow!"

"Grimmjow doesn't need any help-"

A sudden boom shook the sandy ground and vibrated almost painfully through Yaka's almost solid body. Her hands immediately covered her ears and her eyes were squeezed shut to avoid the violent wind and sand that shot towards her. Everything felt so…different, she could actually feel the shockwave of Grimmjow's violent ceros and feel the ground beneath her tremble from his intense death-match with Ichigo.

She cracked open her eyes unsure before slowly blinking away the black spots; she lowered her hands hesitantly as she tried to let the dusty scene sink into her brain.

The hollow standing in front of Orihime and a little green haired hollow-child, high on top of an enormous red column, wore the same exact clothing as Ichigo along with his neon orange hair. But… The white mask and blood red markings with black sclera and yellow pupil, it had to be a hollow.

"This was what I was waiting for!" He shouted towards the orange haired Shinigami. Holding his sword in his right hand like the start of a low sweep stroke, his sword began to glow a ghastly blue the moment his left hand on the blade in a claw-like position. "Grind, Pantera!" Then in a swift motion, Grimmjow raked his hand along the length of the blade. The light around him intensified and a sudden torrent of spiritual energy blasted outwards causing Yaka to cover her eyes with one arm. Shakily she lowered her arm to see that Grimmjow's appearance had changed drastically. His teeth becam jagged and sharp, his hands were turned into black claws and his feet became black clawed paws, and behind him flicked pridefully was a slender whip-like tail. His once short blue hair flowed past his knees and the green markings along his eyes had extended to the tips of his panther-like ears. His distinctive jaw mask was replaced by an odd headgear on his forehead. His clothing became a form-fitting white segmented armor, and blades protruded from his forearms and calves.

"Hurry up, Yaka!" She felt her arm being tugged once more and all she could do was follow half-heartedly. The battle continued to rage on, red pillars collapsed all around them as the two enemies threw each other clashing swords and claws. The match continued on as the imaginary friends closed the distance between them and the fight. Suddenly, a light blue claw streak shot towards Ichigo who was thrown on the opposite side of Grimmjow and then in a blink of an eye, the Shinigami had reached the blue panther. The claw streaks slowly broke like glass behind the victor and the dark horse.

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Sheep felt his heart skip a beat and his blood run cold when he realized what had happened. They were only yards away from the battle…they were so close…so close to stopping the fight if only Yaka had moved faster!

Sheep's eyes glistened with tears. High above, yet still within sight, Ichigo had won the fight. His sword had pierced Grimmjow's abdomen. Grimmjow had lost…

"GRIMMJOW!" Sheep shouted tears raining down his chocolate eyes.

Ichigo pulled out his sword as Grimmjow fell backwards. Sheep prepared to dash over to his kid's side but was held back by shaking thin pale arms just as Ichigo grabbed ahold of Grimmjow's claw-like hand and slowly lowered the hollow down to the sand below. "LET ME GO! HE NEEDS ME!" Sheep's voice cracked and he struggled to escape. "I have to help him! YAKA….please…" His fighting spirit slowly disappeared and he fell limp sobbing in her trembling arms.

"You can't do anything…" Yaka whispered, her voice barely audible. "You can't do anything…"

The shaking little ram whimpered.

"But you can.." He turned towards her and placed his small black hoofs below her left shoulder, "Please take Grimmjow somewhere safe."

His sudden action surprised the teen.

"W-what are you planning?"

Ignoring the pale teen, Sheep concentrated on forcing everything into his friend. He needed to help Grimmjow and this was all he can do. He wouldn't be much help if he became real…his size alone couldn't help with anything and the fact that he can't even blend in with the human world made him feel slightly left out.

Sheep felt his tears continue to fall but slowly now.

"Take Grimmy somewhere safe, kay?" He felt his energy slowly fade. "It was fun." He smiled up at his friend. "If we meet again…" He forced a small half smile and tried to swallow down the lump that formed in his throat. "I'll teach you how to read a little bit."

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Yaka didn't know if she should let Sheep go or not. When he placed his hoofs over her heart, she felt a sudden rush of energy pulse through her body just like the last time she and Sheep had gone to the movies.

Sheep pulled away yanking Yaka back to the present time and only then did she realize that the baby ram's whole body had begun to fade.

"Sheep!" She cried out alarmed as panic set in on her mind.

Sheep lowered himself to the sand and plopped down with his legs straight out very much like Tony Tony Chopper. Yaka quickly knelt next to her fading friend.

"You promised you'd take care of Grimmjow, so you better." Sheep gave her a tired smile and tried to pat her knee but before he could reach her, his hoof disappeared. "You know…" He paused and looked at the rapid fading. "Fading isn't all that bad…" He looked over his tiny shoulder with a teary smile and small chuckle was the last thing she saw and heard before he had completely disappeared out of existence.

Yaka stared wide-eyed at the empty spot. Her lower lip trembled as loneliness once more set in her chest, her first friend…gone. Forever…and no one but her would remember his existence. Her vision blurred with hot tears. Sheep didn't get to say his goodbyes…instead he made it sound like they'll see each other again. She wiped her tears hurriedly and looked up towards the aftermath of the battle only to meet diamond blue eyes staring back. Grimmjow struggled to his feet and the small silver bracelet glistened on his left wrist.

He had seen everything. He had just witnessed Sheep disappear…his imaginary friend…

The white and blue panther hollow finally got to his feet shocking the Ichigo, Orihime, the little green haired girl, and the pale teen.

"Grimmjow.." Ichigo looked over his shoulder and pity flashed through his sharp eyes. Grimmjow limped towards the trio and then paused. A small faded light blue highlighted his panther armor and then it released; turning back to a sword that he gripped with white knuckles his more human form had returned once more.

Yaka got up to her feet, her knees wobbled at the sudden weight of her spiritual body.

She's finally real…with the sacrifice her first friend…she was finally real…but was it worth it?

She snapped back to the fight only to see Ichigo seizing Grimmjow's wrist stopping his sword from crashing down on the Shinigami's skull. Yaka took a step forward with her eyes trained onto the two.

She knew Ichigo wasn't the type to finish off his opponent, in other words, Grimmjow would more than likely live! That thought alone brought a sudden relief to her.

"Never!" Grimmjow's sudden outburst startled both Ichigo and Yaka, "You're-"

Yaka felt her heart stop, everything seemed to be played in fast forward. A black blur shot out from the corner of Yaka's eyes towards Grimmjow and in a blink of an eye, he was down on the floor with his back against the sand. Yaka dropped to the floor afraid that she might be the next target; the moment she squeezed her eyes shut a sudden explosion was set off, the image of Grimmjow flashed into her mind and she cursed herself. She promised…she made a promise… Hesitantly opening her eyes, she watched.

"What is this, Grimmjow?" a new male voice mocked, "The enemy kicks your ass, and then you let them protect you?" He laughed shifting his ridiculously large crescent moon-like sword. The first thing that came into her mind about the new hollow was his odd sense of fashion. She would've laughed at his spoon shaped hood if his spiritual energy wasn't so terrifying, instead she slowly lowered her head waiting to grab Grimmjow if another chance happened to slip by...

When she glanced up again, her eyes met with Ichigo. Her heart pounded against her chest at the eye contact before he was caught off guard by the hollow spoon. She laid flat on her belly and ignoring the cool light tan sand beneath her as she inched slowly towards the lean half-conscious hollow.

"All I have to do is drag him somewhere safe." She whispered shakily to herself. "Drag him somewhere safe…"

She let out an ear-piercing scream and her hands covered her head as sand crashed on top of her; her heart pounding wildly against her chest and her breath were taken in short uneven patterns. She continued her stiff crawling and paused at the blue and silver hilted sword a few feet to her right. The echoing rings of swords clashing and yelling slowly, but surely, grew a bit distant as Ichigo led the fight somewhere further away from the black haired teen. Taking this small chance, she scrambled onto her feet, grabbed the sword, and stumbled towards the half-conscious blue hollow.

"Somewhere safe," She whispered to herself as she panicked;

Grimmjow's condition was nowhere near ok. His white jacket was torn revealing a long thick tan scar from his left shoulder to his right hip, his eyes were dim with defeat and possibly near death, and the wound that was inflicted on him by the other Espada didn't make the situation any better. With his diamond blue eyes slowly closing his dark crimson blood slowly seeped into the light sand beneath him causing her to panic more.

"Somewhere-"She tore her dark eyes away from the pitiful demon as the explosions came closer once more. Without thinking her plans through, she grabbed ahold of the back collar of the now-unconscious hollow with both hands and dragged him towards the Castle. "Safe." She panted almost regretfully, "I can't believe this." She continued breathlessly as she pulled the 176 lb male demon panther. "He better not die," She gritted her teeth and tugged, "Or else all my hard work would be for nothing." She mumbled under her breath.

She continued on for what felt like hours and finally released the heavy load; she fell forward into the oddly cool sand with Grimmjow on her right side before flipping onto her back away from the bleeding hollow, panting as the loose earth shook beneath her body and distant booming rang faintly through the air. She stared tiredly up at the blue sky with sweat rolling down her neck and forehead,

"Somewhere safe…" She mumbled before forcing her body to sit up. "Where the heck is a place that could be safe?! This is Las Noches!" She grabbed a handful of sand and threw it angrily at the empty space in front of her, she turned her attention to the faintly breathing male hollow and furrowed her eyebrows at the demon. Blinking away the her tiredness she took a deep breath and got up to her feet once more and grabbed ahold of the lean man's collar once more and began to drag him.

"Somewhere safe, my butt." She panted angrily.

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A/N: Please write a review! - I really want a review of this chapter from someone. Just one person would be nice but more is welcome too!


	12. Chapter 12: The Hollows

Chapter 12: The Hollows

A/N: Happy New Years! I know it's late but it's finally 2016. Sorry for the long wait everyone. Anyways, on with the story~!

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His whole body ached; his muscles were sore and he could barely lift his eyelids. A familiar light ring bounced through the air and then a heavy object hit the soft sand a few feet away followed by a miniature screech of a hollow. Pantera…that soft ring, he's never heard Pantera ring so softly before. Then again, he had always wielded Pantera with confidence and pride and to hear his blade ring with no real intention to kill had him slightly concerned.

The bluenette forced his eyes open to see who was wielding his blue and silver weapon but his vision blurred with exhaustion and all he could see before darkness overcame him was the glisten of his blade piercing the back of a black fist-size scorpion hollow wiggling in pain. Its right pincher desperately attacking Pantera's flawless blade causing a light _cling cling! _While the other reached out towards him in a failed attempt to attack the weakened Sexta Espada.

Clear blue eyes snapped opened. His first thought:

Why were they taking shelter in between two fallen red pillars?

He flinched at the painful effort to sit up. His lean muscular body throbbed as he continued to try and pull himself in a sitting position. Finally, he gave up. He examined his wounds the best he could and found pieces of his Espada jacket wrapped around his wounds and tied in a rather unprofessional way. The, supposedly, bandages were too tight and the knots barely held together. How he survived with this lame excuse of a first aid action, he has no clue. He shifted his eyes to a thin pale figure that sat three feet away facing him.

Her raven black hair, pulled into a high ponytail, was a tangle mess with a mixture of sand and sweat. Dried brown blood clung onto her black tank-top, skinny jeans, and dark combat boots. Her eyes were closed and her head slowly nodded with sleep, leaning against her right shoulder was none other than Pantera.

Anger bubbled slowly in the pit of Grimmjow's stomach. How dare she! Pantera is not for someone weaker than him, especially someone who has never existed! He forced himself onto his elbow but then stopped when the pale girl fell face forward into the sand. She ungracefully let out an,

"Ooph!"

Grimmjow watched as she slowly pulled away from the loose dirt and spat with distaste; with Pantera left on the ground in front of her, the pale chick sat with her legs criss crossed as she wiped away the sand from her tongue. She stiffened with her tongue still out and the back of her hand stopped half way from wiping her tongue. Grimmjow watched with a deadpan expression as the thin woman hesitantly turned her head towards the bluenette, dark brown eyes met with diamond blue ones.

She froze with wide eyes; eyes that reminded the Sexta Espada of a bunny cornered by a predator. Her mouth opened slightly but nothing else moved. Grimmjow shifted his eyes towards his sword,

"I-I can explain." Her shaky voice squeaked. Her trembling fingers scooped up Pantera, she quickly dusted the sand from its flawless sheath.

"Where's the scorpion?" Grimmjow sat up and ignored the pain that pulsed through his body. Now that he had someone watching him, he couldn't afford to show that he was in pain.

"You shouldn't sit up yet." She whispered but didn't make any move to come closer to Grimmjow. Instead, she held tightly to Pantera as if afraid the blue eyed demon would pounce on her. He clenched his jaw biting back a grunt,

"Just answer the damn question!" His head was spinning and his vision blurred causing him to narrow his eyes at the jumpy woman. She yelped and pressed her back against the gigantic red pillar.

"It's gone!" She held Pantera shakily in front of her, "I killed it..i-it was going to sting you." Her voice cracked with fear.

Grimmjow internally flinched before huffing with annoyance.

"Where's the annoying puff ball?" He saw what had happened but wanted to confirm it. The pale woman gulped and licked her dried lips.

"He's…" She lowered her head and glanced up at the Sexta Espada with her dark brown eyes, "He's gone."

There was a moment of silence between the two, neither one wanting to talk about the white fluffed chibi.

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Yaka edged closer to the exit opposite of Grimmjow. He looked ready to rip her apart. Crimson blood soaked through his poorly wrapped bandages, his stunning blue hair was now in a tangle of knots, sand, and blood, his white baggy pants were now wrinkled and his nicely tan skin was slightly pale. His eyes still gave her the chills and his voice was rougher from lack of water, but she wasn't going to risk going out there and getting lost.

"Good riddance." Grimmjow growled drily before leaning back down onto the cool sand. "He couldn't do shit to serve me."

Yaka felt her right hand twitch. She strongly disagreed. Sheep did so much! She opened her mouth to speak against Grimmjow's opinion but no words came out. This action caught the attention of the Espada.

"What the hell are you gapping at?" He snapped. Yaka quickly shut her mouth and looked away, her heart thudding against her rib cage. If she spoke out against him, he'd kill her…even if he's as weak as he is, she didn't want to risk it.

"I-I was just wondering how these small hollows keep finding us." She tried to cover up. Grimmjow scoffed and closed his eyes.

"You are as stupid as you look." He insulted, "Most hollows have sensitive smell; they can smell my blood from miles away." Yaka mentally noted with surprise that he actually explained something to her using more than four words. She nodded hesitantly, "Now shut up so I can rest."

Yaka leaned the sword against her shoulder once more and looked out into the desert as the blue haired hollow fell into slumber. How are they going to get help now? Once everything is clear…everyone is their enemy. Aizen and his follower doesn't seem the type to let losers live then there's the Shinigamis…

Yaka gently tapped the side of the sword's sheath against her forehead; the Shinigami are Hollow's natural enemy and…Grimmjow is a Hollow. If they find her helping someone like him, she'll be killed along with him!... But then there's Ichigo!

Yaka stopped mid-way from tapping her forehead. Ichigo…Orihime…They'll vouch for her for sure! Ichigo-

From the corner of her eye, the pile of sand near Grimmjow's right hand shifted. Yaka hurriedly unsheathe the sword and, with both hands, carefully yet with enough force to pierce whatever demon that was lurking near the sleeping hollow. In one motion, she stabbed downwards and a high pitch screech rang into her ears. The sand shifted and slipped off the creature to reveal a fist size mole-like demon; the signature hole caused the ex-imaginary friend to shiver. She dragged the dying creature towards the exit and flung the mole hollow as far as she could away from the cave. She sighed softly and turned back towards the cave.

The hollows are starting to get bigger and she's not sure if she could hold them off if-

Suddenly a low rumble was heard from behind Yaka, she stopped in her tracks. Her whole body felt as if someone had thrown a bucket full of cold water on her. No…not rumble…it was a growl. She quickly turned around and blindly swung the sword outwards in a 180 degree. She felt the impact of fur against her fist and bones against the light blue blade. The high pitch sound of an injured dog pierced Yaka's ears and a thud against the pillar wall made her stomach turn.

Puppies and dogs were always her favorite.

She froze in her spot when she noticed four other dogs at the entrance of the cave. Not just any type of dogs…Wolves. Their ears were lowered, their skull face snarling with disgusting drools dripping, their furry skin clung tightly against their ribs. She scooted her left foot backwards but then stopped when one of the wolves stepped forward. It lowered its body in a pouncing position and growled.

They were after Grimmjow.

The sword suddenly felt a thousand times heavier as she shakily pointed the sword at the alpha with both hands.

There was a shift causing Yaka to glance at the figure, it was the wounded wolf from earlier, and that was enough distraction for the alpha to knock the sword to the side with its stiff skull mask and pounce. The impact knocked the wind out from the young woman's lungs, the sand beneath her back was oddly cold and the demonic wolf's paws pressed threateningly against her throat. The sword landed with a soft thud inches away from her right fingers. Alpha nodded a silent command to his followers. The ex-imaginary friend gasped for air and squirmed, Alpha was bigger than she had expected; in height he reached her diaphragm and his paws were the size of her skull. Black spots dotted her vision.

Is this it for her?

She struggled to glance at Grimmjow who was still sleeping soundly. For some reason, deep down she was not ready to die. Something inside her wasn't ready to die!

With dotted vision and struggling to reach the sword , she prayed mentally for a miracle. The foul smell of rotting flesh filled her nostrils as Alpha lowered his snout to bite her neck.

"_Almost there_…"

Yaka's eyes snapped opened at the familiar voice but then the thought was pushed aside when she felt the cold metal hilt of the sword. With strength she never knew she had, she swung the hilt at Alpha's temple, stunning the hollow enough to get off of her small figure. Air painfully rushed down her wind pipe and filled her lungs. Her vision still blurred but she stumbled to her feet and she held the heavy sword lamely.

This attracted the attention of the others…

Crap.

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Next time on Imagine I Was Gone:

"Well, that's weird…" Yaka uncomfortably scratched the back of her head.

"What is?" The blond ex-shinigami asked with a goofy grin, his green and white stripped hat shading his eyes.

"That a hollow like me." Yaka glanced at the tent entrance. "I mean…is that even possible?" She shivered visibly.

Kisuke pulled out his fan and, in one swift motion, snapped the fan open. He covered his mouth and chuckled deviously.

"The world is full of surprises, my little customer." Then his eyes narrowed seriously, "But he could be a useful tool if you let him tag along."

Yaka shifted uncomfortably.

"But he's a hollow!"


	13. Chapter 13: That Cold Feeling

Chapter 13: That Cold Feeling

A/N: Hey guys, just a heads up. My externship started, please don't hate me! Also please review and leave commons, I really need to know what I need to improve on! Ok, I'll stop yelling now… :3

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In the far distance of the sandy hills of Hueco Mundo, the land shook and piles of white sand burst twenty feet into the air; Kenpachi's sword clashed with blood thirsty desires to eliminate the Espada. The famous neon orange haired Shinigami laid almost paralyzed on the sand with a thin layer of orange aura surrounding him. He glanced up at the teary eyed princess,

"Orihime." Her name came out in a rough cough but it caught her attention.

"Don't talk yet, Kurosaki-kun." She furrowed her eyebrows in deep concentration, Ichigo felt his wounds heal faster than normal.

"Who was that girl?" The substitute shinigami stared into the woman's deep honey colored eyes. "I saw her…"

The image of the frightened pale woman lying face flat on the ground in a black tank top flashed through his mind.

Orihime was taken aback by the sudden question.

"W-what do you mean?" She glanced nervously towards the wounded soul and, just as quickly, looked away. "I didn't see anyone."

"Orihime." He tried to sooth his voice and making it as trustworthy as he could. "Tell me, I need to know if she's a friend."

The final push crumbled Orihime's stubbornness. With a soft sigh, she closed her eyes and began to explain.

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Yaka felt warm liquid trickle down between her legs, her shaking hands held the blue and white katana unsteadily.

This is it. She's dead now. Grimmjow isn't going to rescue her any time soon and she's all alone facing three other hollows.

Fearful tears flooded her eyes at the sight before her; their pale canine masks snarled, furry gray ears pressed threateningly against their head, and beady red eyes glared venomously at her. She had the right to pee her pants…on all fours, the three wolves reached the height of her chest and even though they're skin clung tightly against their ribs she knew for sure that they still had enough strength to tear her apart easily. Why would they do that? To her right laid their alpha, his bleach white skull revealed a small crack that appeared from his left temple to the corner of his eye socket.

That's right. She had the guts to actually hit the leader of the group and for that she had to face his minions.

Not waiting any long, the second-in-command dug his claws into the ground and with a powerful lunge he launched at her with his demonic jaws aiming for her pale neck. Yaka screamed and from instinct she dropped the sword and brought her arms to block her face. Before she could close her eyes, she saw a black blur slam against the attacker knocking him harshly to the side with a mighty growl.

The cowardly teen watched in disbelief. What just happened?

Standing in front of her still slightly daze yet his four legs stood firmly…protectively in front of her.

Alpha growled dangerously at his companions and let loose a demanding bark that forced the others to back down. As if feeling the malicious aura surrounding the bigger male, the tails of his fellow wolves immediately fell between their legs but that wasn't enough to convince the king. He attacked his minions biting and clawing at their neck and ribs knocking them down. He made sure that he didn't cause any serious damage because of their lack of meat on their bones yet their high pitch whimpers and whines sent shivers down Yaka's spine…Why was Alpha protecting her?

"He seems to take a liking to you, Ms. Customer."

Yaka shot up and tripped over her own two feet causing her to fall ungracefully forward. Her scream was cut short with a clumsy 'Oooph!' from the faceplant. She paused in her spot to collect her thoughts then quickly turned around to see a dirty blond haired man with a white and green striped hat. His signature white fan snapped opened and covered his sly grin only revealing his thin slit eyes. His brown cane leaned against his left shoulder.

"U-Urahara." Yaka stared wide eyed, why is he here? How did he find them?

"I jumped in to try and save you but it seems that he beat me to it." He shifted his eyes to the alpha male that pinned his lieutenant to the ground baring his teeth in a challenging gesture. The blond store owner snapped his fan closed and stuffed it back into his sleeve. He held out his hand and Yaka hesitantly took it, if Ichigo and the others could trust him then she should too…right? He gently helped her up and that was when she noticed how light headed she felt. "Good thing I brought some extra clothes and a few tents to set up." He grinned looking down at her legs. That was the final straw, her legs gave way and she collapsed not on the cold sand…but on something soft and furry. The lights dimmed and her eyelids felt heavy. She felt herself go limp and the soft fur rubbed against her cheek. She gave in to her aching body and closed her eyes.

"Sheep…"

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"You're… so heavy!"

Yaka jerked awake in cold sweat, she glanced around the small room but couldn't find the small white fluff she was hoping to find. She blinked…room? She took another look around and found that it was a tent…a rather small tent big enough to fit two people, it wasn't triangular like the ones she saw back in the Human world but rather, it was rectangular; it was roughly seven feet tall, tall enough for her to stand without having to crawl out. She sat in her bed with a blank mind trying to put together what had happened but every time she managed to get one piece of information it scrambled itself in her mind.

"You're awake." Yaka shifted her eyes towards the tent's entrance and saw none other than the former shinigami. "I hope you didn't mind me changing your clothes." His sly grin appeared but was smoothly covered by his white fan. Yaka glanced down at her clothes and finally noticed that instead of wearing her usual black tank top and skinny jeans, she wore a white bath robe; her face burned with embarrassment. "I'd like to add that you have very nice skin. A bit too pale but I have a body soap that could help make your skin more healthy if you'd like."

"Pervert." Yaka whispered wrapping her arms around her chest.

He chuckled and walked over to her side.

"Now now, I'm just trying to help a fragile woman that just now became real." His eyes held a serious tone yet his voice said otherwise.

Yaka felt a chill trickle down her spine. He made her feel uncomfortable… maybe it's the fact that he didn't look at her as a normal soul…but more like a new species.

"I-is Grimmjow…" Her voice came out raspy and dry. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Is Grimmjow ok?"

Even though the subject was changed, Urahara's eyes didn't.

"Yes, he's in the next tent over. He should be fine." There was a moment's pause. Yaka let her eyes slowly roam the room feeling even more uncomfortable. "I have a question Ms…"

"Yaka, just call me Yaka please." She turned her eyes back to the man.

"Do you have a last name, Yaka-chan?"

"No." Her answer was quick but smooth and monotone. She didn't need a last name…only real people have last names.

"You've always came into my shop." Yaka knew that he wanted something from her…but what was it? Why is he just beating around the bush? "How did you become a soul?"

That's when everything flooded back. Sheep's sacrifice. Ichigo and Grimmjow's fight. The wolves. Panic flooded through her mind.

"Where's Alpha?!" She remembered the pack wanting to devour the former espada. She quickly got up and her knees gave out. The six foot man caught her with ease and snapped his fan closed.

"Calm down, they're fine." He misunderstood the situation.

"No, Grimmjow might be in danger!" She panicked more.

"You'll be surprised, Yaka-chan." He grinned. "That Alpha wolf seems to like you."

He helped her sit at the edge of the bed and watched her carefully.

"What do you mean?" She was so confused, they were trying to eat them just a few hours ago…now Alpha doesn't?

"So his name is Alpha?" He glanced at the entrance then back at Yaka. She rubbed her temples trying to work the pieces together.

"I just call him that because he's the leader….wait…are you trying to say that he cares about me?" She felt weird saying that out loud but that's the only way she could figure this whole situation out. When she glanced at him, he only stared with a grin. "But…why?" There was no answer from him. "Well, that's weird…" Yaka uncomfortably scratched the back of her head.

"What is?" The blond ex-shinigami asked with a goofy grin, his green and white stripped hat shading his eyes.

"That a hollow like me." Yaka glanced at the tent entrance. "I mean…is that even possible?" She shivered visibly.

Urahara, in one swift motion, snapped the fan open. He covered his mouth and chuckled deviously.

"The world is full of surprises, my little customer." Then his eyes narrowed seriously, "But he could be a useful tool if you let him tag along."

Yaka shifted uncomfortably.

"But he's a hollow!"

"Well, we can sort this matter out later. I have somewhere I need to be." He patted her head and without another word walked out of the tent.

That's right, she sighed softly, they were still fighting against Aizen and his army. She won't be much help so she's staying put here. Carefully getting up, she made her way to the entrance and opened the flap. She squinted her eyes trying to adjust them to the light.

"E-eh?"

There were two enormous wolves that stood guarding her tent, when she had exited out, they gave her a side view glance that told her that they were not enjoying their new commands.

"W-why are you guys here?" She really had no point in asking. She knew that Alpha had demanded them to stay guard…

They ignored her and continued to stare straight ahead. She slightly frowned, so childish.

"You're finally up, you lazy ass woman."

She yelped and turned around to see a healthier Grimmjow. Even though his body was still in bandages and his hair still disheveled his skin wasn't as pale as before and he even though he was walking, she could tell he was forcing himself to.

"Y-you shouldn't be up," She didn't bother to step forward because she hasn't forgotten what he could still do even in his condition. "You should be resting."

"Shut up. What's with all these stupid dogs?" He completely changed the subject. He glared at them and they returned the favor without hesitation. That's right….he was unconscious the entire time…

"They're wolves." Her voice was quiet and her eyes fell to the ground. She's trying her best to stand up against him but the fear of him overpowering her is too strong.

"The hell are you mumbling about now?" He growled making his way up to her. "Say it louder so I can hear you, woman."

She gave the wolves a sideway glance before opening her mouth but then was cut off when rough hands gripped her neck. Her airway was closed off in a painful way and her eyes widened with fear. She hasn't even said anything yet! Why is he so angry?!

"I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck." He narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip. Her lungs burned and she felt herself start to get light headed. She couldn't hold her tears back as they fell uncontrollably.

Why did Sheep choose her to help a sadistic demon like Grimmjow?!

Lights around her dimmed as she slowly lost conscious then suddenly she dropped to the floor and air painfully rushed back into her lungs. She coughed and laid uselessly on the sand. Her eyes glance up at the creature in front of her…

"Alpha…" She whimpered and felt tears flooding her eyes once more. Why couldn't Grimmjow be as kind as Alpha?

The male wolf growled dangeriously at the Sexta Espada who had jumped backwards to avoid an attack that Yaka hadn't seen coming.

"So…" Grimmjow sent death glares at the male alpha. "You're almost to 'that' stage, tsk. Such a pain in the ass." He shifted his diamond eyes to Yaka.

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Grimmjow didn't know what made him so angry…maybe it's the fact that this pale useless woman couldn't do anything useful at all! If she knew how to be useful Sheep would've-

He tightened his hand around the thin neck he held. Sheep…Sheep would've been…

The air shifted on his right. He retracted his arm and jumped a good distance away from the beast and the teen, his eyes slightly widened but then he recovered.

Why is there a hollow protecting a human girl?

If he didn't let go of Yaka's neck in time, he would've lost his left arm again. He glared at the wolf who glared back and growled dangerously. Tsk.

"So, you're almost to 'that' stage, tsk. Such a pain in the ass." That useless rag doll found a body guard; things would've gotten worse if the male dog had evolved, he's already close enough. Grimmjow weighed his options….then slowly took in his surroundings. There were three other wolves besides the alpha…Grimmjow's outnumbered but that wasn't the real threat. If the alpha really wanted to protected Yaka, he would eat one of his own to evolve right away…and that would be bad on Grimmjow's end. His body was already at its limit, if he tried to pick a fight with a newly evolve…it's sure to be a suicide.

He glared at Yaka. She was on the verge of tears, what an idiot. Even that one orange headed chick would've put up a better fight than her. He exhaled through his nose and turned away. He'll defiantly beat the hell out of her and that dog of hers.

"What a waste of time." He shoved his hands into his pockets and sonido. He didn't go far, instead he went behind the pale woman's tent. Why? He looked at the hand he gripped her pale neck with and stared blankly. Why? Why does he have so much mixed feelings?

"She can help you!" That annoying fluff ball's voice bounced noisily in the bluenette's head.

He clenched his jaw and his hand into a fist. Help him with what?!

He glanced around the corner and felt something in his chest grow cold. The thin pale woman clung tightly to the dog and sobbed uncontrollably. Her lean arms wrapped tightly yet not in a death grip around the male wolf's neck and her face buried against his neck. The three other dogs watched keenly interested in the scene that played. Grimmjow felt his jaw tighten more.

Pathetic. Emotion is weakness…and he, the King, has no weakness!

He shoved his hands back into his pockets and walked off into the desert yet that cold feeling in his chest never left.

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A/n: Hi! :3 I'm still alive…sorry I haven't updated for a bit.

*Someone from the audience throws a keyboard at sadsmile and hits her square in the face*(# ~ )

Sadsmile: I'm sorry! Please don't hate me! But please leave me a review ;U;


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